Ugandan army captures top LRA commander

The Ugandan army has captured Mickman Opuk, who was close to LRA leader Joseph Kony. Opuk is said to have participated in the 1995 Atiak massacre of more than 200 civilians.

AllAfrica.com reports Opuk was captured two weeks ago when the military was chasing a rebel group. "We picked him like a grasshopper and he is intact," army spokesperson Lt. Col. Felix Kulayigye told allAfrica.com yesterday. "Our forces had been in hot pursuit of Kony's group which he was part of." Since the Ugandan army moved into the Central Africa Republic on a mission to track and capture the rebels, four other LRA junior commanders have been killed and 98 abductees rescued. Kulayigye said Opuk will be kept in the field to assist the joint forces with information. "Slowly by slowly we are harvesting them. The fact that we have been allowed in the Central African Republic shows that Kony is not safe anywhere." he told allAfrica.com. When Kony refused to sign the final peace agreement on Dec. 15, 2008, a joint military offensive was launched. Codenamed Operation Lightning Thunder, the operation included both ground troops and jet-fighters, which attacked LRA bases in Garamba forest in eastern Congo.