KAMPALA, Jul 27, 2005 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- The Uganda People's Defense Force (UPDF) has killed seven rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) fighting in the northern part of the east African country.
The northern Ugandan army spokesman Capt. Paddy Ankunda told Xinhua by telephone on Wednesday that the rebels were killed during separate battles along the Sudan-Uganda border in Kitgum and Pader districts on Monday.
He said that three rebels were killed and a UPDF soldier was wounded in Ngomoromo in Chua county, adding that three rebels were killed and another captured in Lalak hills in Chua county, Kitgum district.
He noted that one rebel was killed at Acholi Bur sub-county in Pader.
Ankunda noted that five abductees were rescued during the operations.
Meanwhile reports from Lira district in the north indicate that LRA rebels on Saturday night abducted several people from Apala in Moroto county.
The district police Commander Taire Idhwege was on Wednesday quoted by local press confirming the incident.
He said that the rebels wanted to loot food and they used the abducted people as porters.
Idhwege however could not give the exact number of the people who were abducted.
Recently, President Yoweri Museveni reassured the people of northern Uganda that the government is building a strong army to finish off the remnants of the LRA, who have destabilized that part of the country for the last 19 years.
The rebellion in northern Uganda has left tens of thousands of people dead and over 1.4 million people displaced from their homes and are now living in congested internally displaced person's camps.