Uganda claims killing 86 rebels
2003-12-31 17:11
Kampala - The Ugandan army claimed Wednesday that it had killed a total of 86 rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) during encounters in northern and northwestern districts in the month of December.
Army spokesperson also said government troops rescued a total of 692 civilians, most of them children, abducted by the rebels during that period.
"We killed 46 rebels and rescued 374 captives in the areas of the fourth division (districts of Gulu and Apac) and lost one soldier," army spokesperson Lieutenant Paddy Ankunda told AFP by telephone from the northern town of Gulu.
Lieutenant Chris Magezi said 40 rebels were gunned down and 318 civilians freed from rebel captivity in Lira, Pader and Kitgum districts.
Eleven government soldiers died and nine were wounded during the operations.
The figures given by the military officials could not be independently verified.
The LRA took up arms against President Yoweri Museveni's government in 1988, ostensibly in a bid to replace it with an administration that would enforce the biblical Ten Commandments.
The group is infamous for its atrocities against civilians and abductions of thousands of children, and has been condemned by human rights groups and UN aid agencies.
- SAPA