At least 11 civilians and eight troops have died in attacks by Ugandan LRA rebels in the northeast of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a local association said.

The attacks by the Lord's Resistance Army rebels took place between March 11 and 14 in Bangadi, Duru and Dungu in Orientale province about 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of the border with the Central African Republic.

Aruna Sambia, chairman of a civil group in Dungu, told AFP that the dead included three members of one family.

Led by Joseph Kony, wanted along with two other leaders by the International Criminal Court for war crimes, the LRA took up arms in 1988 in northern Uganda and has acquired a reputation for brutality.

Since 2005, under pressure from the Ugandan army, the fighters pulled back from their bases in Uganda to move into the remote northeast of the DRC, where they were said to number less than 100 late last year, according to the UN mission in the DRC.

Source: AFP