Ugandan helicopter gunships kill 54 rebels

Ugandan helicopter gunships killed 54 insurgents after shelling a group of 250 rebel fighters based in neighbouring southern Sudan, an army spokesman said today.

Sudan permits Uganda to send troops into southern Sudan to flush out rebels who are terrorising the northern third of this east African nation.

The helicopter gunships attacked the fighters from the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army, Major Shaban Bantariza said.

Ugandan infantry units operating in southern Sudan went to the area today and counted the number of rebels killed in the raid, he said.

The rebels were killed a day after others slaughtered nine civilians in three attacks in the northern Uganda district of Kitgum, 285 miles from the capital, Kampala.

The UN estimates that since June 2002 more than 10,000 children have been abducted by LRA.