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Violence flares in Uganda
06/05/2006 17:05 - (SA)
Kampala - Uganda's army said on Saturday that it had killed at least 14 soldiers of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebel group this week, after a two-month lull in fighting.
It said the fatalities included three rebel commanders.
The fighting came as the country's military stepped up operations against the LRA in northern Uganda.
The rebels have waged war in northern Uganda for 20 years.
The group claims to be fighting for a government based on the Biblical Ten Commandments, but has acquired notoriety for killing and maiming civilians and the abduction of thousands of children forced to serve as soldiers or sex slaves.
Ugandan army lieutenant Chris Magezi said Ugandan troops had killed the LRA fighters in four separate clashes in Kitgum and Pader districts, the latest of which took place on Friday.
Magezi said: "We have decided to comb the region and flush out rebel remnants from their hide-outs."
The fighting erupted after a more than two-month lull in clashes.
Villagers said the number of LRA village attacks and ambushes during the lull had dropped significantly.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed and more than two million people have been displaced since LRA supremo Joseph Kony, a self-styled prophet, took over leadership of a regional rebellion in 1988.
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