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| Ugandan rebels kill 16 villagers, wound 13 civilians in ambush
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Kampala, Uganda (PANA) -
Rebels of the Lords Resistance Army
(LRA) on Monday fired a hail of bullets on a passenger bus in
Northern Uganda, seriously wounding 13 passengers as the driver
sped through the unanticipated gunfire, officials said Tuesday.
Alick Mawa, operations manager the Kampala-based Nile Coaches Bus
revealed that "rebels showered one of their coach buses --
heading to Nebbi town, 540km north-west of Kampala -- with
bullets from its rear shortly after crossing the Ayago bridge."
About 100 heavily armed LRA rebels ambushed the bus and three
trucks, the last four vehicles in a motor convoy at Ayago bridge,
30km from Karuma bridge at the fast crossing River Nile, 260km
north of Kampala.
"We had 40 passengers on board. Our driver called Issa Bwete
called three hours later saying that he can't continue with the
days assigned route after rebels fired at the bus, severely
injuring thirteen passengers.
"Bwete was calling me from Pakwach health center where he stopped
to offer first aid to the injured. He said he braved on without
stopping amidst rapid fire at the bus's rear which requires major
rebuilding," Mawa told PANA Tuesday in Kampala.
The rebels burnt three heavily loaded cargo trucks, which could
not escape the ambush, to mere shells after they looted some of
the goods on the trucks.
The trucks included a 10-ton TATA lorry loaded with 450 crates of
beer and two 40-feet trailers loaded with cement.
The whereabouts of the occupants of the three trucks were still
unknown but there was no evidence at the three shells indicating
that they could have died in the inferno. Instead they were
likely abducted.
Police authorities in Nebbi reached by cellphone confirmed the
incident saying the ambushed occurred as the nearby military
detachment was hotly pursuing another group of LRA rebels that
had just attacked a village, killed 16 elderly people and
abducted 57 civilians.
"The ambush came at time when the soldiers camped at a nearby
military detachment guarding the Ayoga bridge on the Kampala-
Sudan highway were all engaged in battle with rebels who had just
attacked a village located a dozen kilometres away," Nebbi
District Police Commander, Samson Onyai told PANA.
"There was no immediate reinforcement which gave the rebels ample
time to loot the consignment of beer on the truck. The two
trailers carrying cement were set ablaze and the fire spilled
over to the TATA lorry, all burning to mere shells and ashes,"
Onyai explained.
Onyai said, "a detail check of the three shells had no evidence
that their respective occupants could have died in the fire.
Instead, we suspect they could have been abducted."
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| Kampala - 30/07/2002 |
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