![Uganda army tank]()
The army has been unable to end the LRA rebellion |
At least 60 people are reported to have been massacred in Uganda by members of the country's rebel forces.
Gunmen from the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) killed dozens of civilians in violent attacks on villages, an army spokesman told Reuters news agency.
Lieutenant Chris Magezi said the attacks seemed to be an act of revenge for the killing of a rebel commander.
The rebels are responsible for abducting thousands of children during the country's 17-year civil war.
'Victims beheaded'
"Scores of civilians were killed at around midnight on 6 November in Alanyi and Awayopiny villages in Lira district," Mr Magezi said.
He said the attacks were probably sparked by the army's killing of LRA number two, Charles Tabuley, on 29 October.
His death was widely seen as likely to weaken rebel operations.
Catholic missionary, Father Sabbat Ayele, told the AFP news agency that witnesses had said the rebels had beheaded some of the victims while a number of grass-thatched huts were set on fire.
The LRA rebels- based in southern Sudan, northern and eastern Uganda - have fought to overthrow President Yoweri Museveni since 1988.
Thousands of civilians have been killed and more than a million others displaced by the fighting in northern Uganda alone.
Humanitarian organisations say that about 20,000 children have been abducted by the rebels over the last five years, with many taken to LRA bases in southern Sudan, where they are trained as child soldiers while the girls are turned into sex slaves.
