Rebels Suffer Heavy Casualties in Battles with Ugandan Army

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, August 18, 2002

Rebels Suffer Heavy Casualties in Battles with Ugandan Army

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The Lord Resistance Army (LRA) rebels have suffered heavy casualties in battles with the Uganda People' s Defense Forces (UPDF) in northern Uganda, reported the Sunday Vision to be published on Sunday.

The details of the rebel casualties were still not announced and the government soldiers were still counting the scattered bodies of the rebels on Saturday.

Three senior LRA commanders, including rebel leader Joseph Kony's second-in-commander Vincent Otti were badly injured in the battles which happened on Friday night, according to the report.

UPDF fourth division spokesman Paddy Ankunda was quoted as saying that the army ambushed the rebels, who were under the command of Otti at Awich in Aswa county of Gulu district, while ontheir way to link up with Kony near the Sudan border.

He said UPDF made the merciless attack with tanks and artilleryafter the rebels confidently marched towards the border.

At mid-day on Saturday, top UPDF commanders in Gulu dispatched a helicopter to comb the scene where Otti vanished.

Meanwhile, the LRA rebels attacked at Minakulu on the Gulu-Kampala highway in early morning on Saturday. Minakulu is located about 30 km south of Gulu town and some 280 km north of Kampala. The attack temporarily led to the closure of the Gulu-Kampala road.

The UPDF soldiers arrived at Minakulu at 6:00 a.m. (0300 GMT) on Saturday, and by mid-day gunfire could still be heard around Minakulu as the UPDF hunted the rebels down, the report said.

The LRA rebels have abducted over 10,000 children and displacedhundreds of thousands of northern Ugandans in the last 16 years.

President Yoweri Museveni has pitched camp at headquarters of UPDF 4th division in Gulu town since Aug. 2 to oversee the UPDF's "Operation Iron Fist" against LRA rebels.

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