Congo army kills 80 rebels

The Congo army has killed 80 rebels from neighbooring Uganda and Rwanda who entered volatile eastern Congo. General Amuli Bahigwa of Congo army said on Tuesday that the army killed the rebels in an operation that started on the first day of June.

He added that four of government soldiers were dead in the mission while Ugandan rebels killed eight civilians.

Eastern Congo has been mired by violence since Rwanda's 1994 genocide spilled war across the border. Ugandan rebels have spread their 20-year fight to Congo, Sudan and Central African Republic.

Since 2008, LRA leader Kony with his militias has been on the run after regional States launched a chase to nab him after he rejected to sign a peace deal with Uganda. It is also alleged that his fighters have been moving in the forests of south Sudan, north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic (CAR).

Five LRA commanders including its leader Joseph Kony are wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for murder, torture, rape, abductions and forced conscription of children into fighting.

The LRA, which has been fighting against Ugandan government since 1988, has killed 849 civilians and kidnapped a further 1,486, including 185 children in 2009, according to OCHA report released last February.