The Uganda People's Defense Forces (UPDF) Wednesday attacked a hide-out of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels in southern Sudan and killed 12 of them, Radio Uganda reported on Wednesday.

UPDF 4th division spokesman Lt. Paddy Ankunda was quoted as saying that the UPDF attacked the rebels on Wednesday morning and heavy fighting was still going on.

Ankunda said that the UPDF rescued six abductees and recovered several arms from the rebels.

He said the UPDF is now using a combination of ground, zonal and air forces to pursue the rebels.

The spokesman disclosed that rebel leader Joseph Kony was attempting to relocate back to Palatak, northern Uganda where he was in 2002.

The LRA rebels have been fighting an 18-year war to topple the Ugandan government. The rebels have killed tens of thousands of civilians, abducted over 20,000 children as their porters, fighters and sex slaves and displaced over 1.6 million people in the north.

The Ugandan government has declared that the LRA rebels are coming to an end, following UPDF successfully razed the headquarters of Kony in southern Sudan on July 28. During the heavy battle in Dirinyang area near southern Sudan city of Juba, Kony narrowly survived, leaving his four wives and 13 children captured.

Source: Xinhua