Kampala — Rebels of the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) yesterday killed 12 people and wounded over 30 in a morning attack at Padibe, 24km north of Kitgum town.

Several huts were torched and the Catholic Mission nearby was looted. The Mission vehicle was also burnt in the attack that lasted three hours. The dead included two women and a baby.

Fr. Carlos Rodriguez, who visited the scene after the attack and transported the wounded to hospital, yesterday said in a statement faxed to The New Vision that eight of the victims, including two soldiers, were killed in a dancing hall in the displaced camp.

Reports of an impending attack by rebels coming from the west, are said to have reached Padibe earlier on.

The house of Fr. Geoffrey Toorach, the Padibe parish priest, was reportedly among those looted.

The attackers are believed to have been the ones who were attacked by Karimojong warriors at Achol Bur in Aruu county.

Efforts to talk to security agencies in the area were futile, as the Army Commander and the Acting 4th Division Commander, Col. Samuel Kawaga, were reportedly in a day long meeting with President Yoweri Museveni. Carlos said an unnamed district councillor from the area had organised the drinking party as part of his campaign in favour of the Movement in the forthcoming referendum.

"The local authorities in charge of security in Kitgum were alerted the day before, but at the time of the attack there were few soldiers stationed at the camp. Many of them were at the party," he said.

This is the third deadly attack on a displaced camp since the rebels re- entered Uganda late last year. Eleven people were killed in Pabo in a similar attack on February 14 and five in Atanga on December 31, 1999.