OWN CORRESPONDENT, Kampala | Thursday 2.30pm.
REBELS in western Uganda killed at least 10 people during an attack on a trading centre, press reports said on Thursday.
The independent Monitor newspaper said the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels early on Wednesday attacked Nyakigumba Trading Centre in the Kabarole district. Among the dead were a Ugandan soldier and a special police constable, while two other people were injured and five houses burnt down, the paper said.
Police confirmed that the attack had taken place, but were unwilling to provide further details before an investigation team returns from the village, which is in the Ruwenzori mountains, about 15km from the district capital, Fort Portal.
The attack comes a week after ADF rebels killed 11 civilians and looted property in an ambush in Bundibugyo district’s main road linking Bundibugyo town and Fort Portal. Rebel attacks in Bundibugyo have increased since the beginning of the year, claiming the lives of more than 70 civilians.
The ADF rebels have also been active in Kasese district, where they killed six people in a raid on a fishing village over the Easter weekend.
The ADF, a coalition of Tabliq Moslem radicals and fighters from the moribund National Army for the Liberation of Uganda (NALU) rebel group, have been fighting since 1996 to destabilise the government of President Yoweri Museveni.