The Ugandan army has killed over 300 Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels and lost 40 of its own soldiers since it embarked on its ”Operation Iron Fist” in southern Sudan last March, army representative Major Shaban Bantariza said here Thursday.
The Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF) had also captured about 30 rebels and recovered a huge chunk of arms and ammunition over the same period,” Bantariza told AFP by telephone.
Bantariza said that during the same period, over 250 people that had been abducted, including children, women and unwilling combatants, were rescued from the insurgents and about 40 rebels had surrendered willingly.
Bantariza was updating a statement given to parliament on Wednesday evening by Defence Minister Amama Mbabazi on the state of operations in southern Sudan and northern Uganda, where the rebels had intensified attacks on both military and civilian targets.
The Ugandan army crossed into Sudan in March to launch a search and destroy offensive against the LRA rebels operating rear bases there.
Kampala and Khartoum had signed a protocol under which Ugandan troops were allowed into Sudanese soil to carry out the offensive and possibly rescue children abducted by the LRA. – AFP
