Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels have killed about 40 people during a raid on villages in southern Sudan, including seven Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) guerrillas, Ugandan media reported on Monday.

"On Friday morning, LRA rebels raided the small village of Moti,came across our small detachment there, overran it an killed seven of our fighters," SPLA liaison officer in Kampala George Riak was quoted as saying.

Moti is a remote village about 65 km southeast of Juba, a southern Sudanese town.

The SPLA, which controls the major part of southern Sudan, has signed a framework peace agreement with the Khartoum government on ending the 21-year civil war in southern Sudan.

Another militia force, the Equatoria Defense Forces (EDF), claimed the LRA was aided by the Sudanese government gunships.

"Hundreds of LRA rebels supported still by government of Sudan army have launched fresh full attack on the village of Moti," EDF Secretary General Charles Barnaba Kisanga said in a press release.

LRA rebels, based in southern Sudan, have fought the Ugandan government in the last 18 years, abducting 20,000 children and displacing over 1.6 million people in northern Uganda.

Source: Xinhua