Kampala — REBELS of the Lord's Resistance Army on Wednesday attacked villages in the southern Sudanese town of Yambio, abducting an unknown number of people, according to the Sudan Tribune publication.

Local authorities said the rebels attacked two separate villages of Bureangburu, where they abducted a man and his wife. They attacked Nasoro, where they looted food and abducted an unknown number of people.

Charles Kisanga, a leader of the region's Azande community living in the United Kingdom said the arrow boys, a militia group in southern Sudan, clashed with the LRA, killing one. "The dead LRA was torn to pieces by an angry mob but the arrow boys managed to bring the hand of the dead LRA rebel to Yambio town for the authorities to see," the Sudan Tribune quoted Kisanga.

Earlier in the week, the rebels were reported in Sakure, where two boys aged 12 and 15 years were abducted.

The UPDF spokesman, Maj. Felix Kulayigye, on Thursday said the LRA did not pose threat to Uganda.

Kulayigye said by last week, the Congolese army had killed 18 LRA fighters, captured four and rescued 12 abductees.

Continued LRA attacks and looting have emptied the villages of Bureangburu, Nasoro and Bakiwiri, from which residents fled to Yambio seeking protection. According to Kisanga, the displaced people are a strain to their relatives living in town.

"Most people in Yambio have households with members swelling to over 20 to 50 and some reaching a hundred as relatives seek refuge from the LRA," said Kisanga.

The attack coincided with the visit of the Speaker of the South Sudanese Parliament, James Wani Igga.

Wani said the insecurity in the area was deplorable.

Leaders of the government of Western Equatorial ignored a regional disarmament campaign last year, arguing that the people should remain armed to defend themselves against the LRA fighters who regularly crossed over from Congo.