Women, kids slain in Congo church massacre

NAIROBI, Kenya — The Lord's Resistance Army, the fearsome Ugandan rebel group notorious for its lurid violence and penchant for turning children into killers, massacred nearly 200 people last week, U.N. officials said Monday.

The rebels were being chased by a multinational military offensive, and as they fled, they hacked to death dozens of villagers in their path, including scores of people who sought refuge at a Catholic Church in remote eastern Congo the day after Christmas, officials and witnesses said Monday.

"The scene at the church was unbelievable. It was horrendous. On the floor were dead bodies of mostly women and children cut in pieces," Ugandan army spokesman Capt. Chris Magezi told The Associated Press.

The rebels denied responsibility, but witness Abel Longi said he recognized the rebels by their dreadlocked hair, Acholi language and the number of young boys among them.

The killings may not be over. Most of the rebels escaped the military offensive and have scattered across a vast swath of rugged territory in the northeastern corner of Congo.

"The civilian population is really in danger," said Ivo Brandau, a U.N. spokesman in Congo. He said 120 homes were set ablaze and thousands fled for fear of attacks.

The rebels were once the bane of Uganda's existence. Starting in the late 1980s, they terrorized villages in northern Uganda, killing tens of thousands of people and displacing nearly 2 million. Aid and rights groups have accused them of cutting off the lips of civilians and forcing thousands of children to serve as soldiers or sex slaves.

The Ugandan military drove the rebels out of Uganda about five years ago, and the rebels have been mostly hiding out in forested northeastern Congo. There have been several high-profile efforts, backed by the United Nations and the United States, to persuade Joseph Kony, the rebel's phantomlike commander, to surrender.

After Kony failed to show up to sign a peace agreement in November, the armies of Congo, Uganda and semiautonomous South Sudan teamed up to wipe out rebel bases.

But the rebels are excellent jungle fighters. They often carry solar panels on their backs to power satellite phones, and they can live on little food and water. In recent weeks, they seemed to have eluded government troops and airstrikes.

Information from The Associated Press is included in this report.