Nine people have been killed and an Italian missionary wounded in rebel attacks in northern Uganda in the past two days, church and army sources said on Friday.
An orphaned boy was killed and an Italian missionary travelling with him was injured when Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels ambushed the priest’s vehicle in northern Uganda’s Lira district on Friday, said Roman Catholic priest Sebat Ayele by telephone from Ngetta parish outside Lira town.
”Father Guido Cellana (66) was shot in the arm and the bullet also killed a 15-year-old boy he was travelling with,” Ayele, living with Cellana in the same parish, said.
Ayele said that the estimated 10 rebels stole property from the vehicle, including the Comboni priest’s mobile phone and money, before setting fire to it.
Area’s army spokesperson Lieutenant Chris Magezi confirmed the incident, said to have taken place between Aloi and Konodwali, some 30km from Lira town.
Ayele also said that on Thursday night, eight other people were killed after rebels raided two villages located about 20km northeast of Lira town.
Four people were killed at Oliro in Bur sub-county on Thursday evening and four others at Adyiaka in Amach sub-county, where 13 houses were also set ablaze, including an Anglican Church, he said.
The rebels have recently targeted civilians in Lira district, carrying out random killings.
The LRA has been fighting since 1988 to replace President Yoweri Museveni’s secular regime with one based on the Ten Commandments.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed or maimed, thousands of children abducted and 1,3-million others displaced. – Sapa-AFP