Ugandan rebels ambush bus and kill 25 people
Monday, September 1, 2003 Posted: 4:35 PM EDT (2035 GMT)

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) -- Rebels shot or clubbed to death 25 people on a bus in northeastern Uganda on Monday and then set the vehicle ablaze, a government army spokesman said. Nine others were injured in the ambush.

The brutal attack followed a wave of violence in recent days in which rebels hacked to death 19 civilians and abducted an unknown number of others, said Maj. Shaban Bantariza.

The Lord's Resistance Army rebels ambushed the 65-seat bus on its way from Lira to Soroti, 174 miles northeast of the capital, Kampala, Bantariza said. He did not provide any other details.

Bantariza said the rebels hacked eight people to death Sunday in Soroti and 11 others from Okwaga refugee camp in Lira district on Friday.

Daniel Omara Atubo, a member of parliament from the Okwaga area, put the number of deaths in the Okwaga camp at 14, and said the number of people taken away was not known. He said Saturday, the rebels abducted six boys from Agwari, six miles south of Okwaga.

The Lord's Resistance Army is led by Joseph Kony, who claims spiritual powers protect his fighters. They have been fighting the government of President Yoweri Museveni since it took power in 1986 after a five-year bush war.

The group replenishes its ranks with children it abducts to use as fighters, porters or concubines. The rebels rarely speak to journalists and could not be reached for comment.