Ugandans kill 120 rebels in bid to capture leader

UGANDA’S army overran the headquarters of a rebel group in a cross-border raid and killed at least 120 fighters, including possibly the group’s leader, a military spokesman said yesterday.

The army attacked the Lord’s Resistance Army headquarters in Biliniang, southern Sudan, hoping to capture the group’s leader, Joseph Kony, Major Shaban Bantariza said. He said it was unclear whether Kony was among those killed.

The operation was one of the deepest penetrations of Sudan by the Ugandan army in pursuit of the rebels, who have been fighting an 18-year insurgency.

The army captured 28 of Kony’s followers, including his four wives and “many of his children,” Major Bantariza said.

Little is known about the rebels’ political agenda, except that it wants to overthrow President Yoweri Museveni and replace the Ugandan constitution with the Ten Commandments.