Uganda LRA Rebels Kill CAR Villagers in Assault

At least 16 people have died in clashes between rebel fighters of the Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) group and villagers in the Central African Republic (CAR), military officials have reported.

The LRA fighters had earlier attacked two villages in the central mining region of Bria on Thursday killing six people and wounded about 10 others, while also they looted houses. The armed villagers managed to fend off the attack and drove away the assailants.

"The rebels were pursued and caught by villagers armed with rifles ... who killed four of them," a source in the CAR military told the AFP news agency.

The LRA fighters later responded in a fresh raid in which they killed six more people, who they decapitated and placed their heads on tree trunks.

LRA under Joseph Kony is known for its brutal attacks and looting on local communities that has led to the greatest human rights violations in northern Uganda and border regions of DR Congo , South Sudan and CAR.

CAR interim leader Michel Djotodia had vowed to put an end to the LRA invasions after he assumed power in March following a coup by the Seleka rebel coalition in March that ousted President Francois Bozize.

The LRA has killed more than 100,000 people in Central Africa over the past 25 years, UN leader Ban Ki-moon said last month.

Formed in 1987, the LRA has fought to establish a theocratic state based on Christianity and local Acholi traditions in Uganda.

The International Criminal Court issued a warrant of arrest against Kony among the other top five LRA leaders wanted for rape, mutilation and murder of civilians, as well as conscription of child soldiers and sex slaves.

In 2009 a US-backed military operation by the Ugandan army wrecked LRA’s outfit in northern Uganda, driving its fighters and leaders into the deep forested border regions around DR Congo and CAR.