Ugandan troops have killed 13 Lord 's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels in two separate helicopter raids in Atiki, southern Sudan, local press reported on Thursday.

The Ugandan army's intelligence coordinator, Col. Charles Otema Awany, said the army on Tuesday carried out two separate raids on the rebels' hideouts in southern Sudan, killing 13 rebels on the spot.

Otema said their new wave of attacks has forced the LRA leader, Joseph Kony, to flee from Kit Valley, where he had been hiding, to deeper into southern Sudan.

Several military-related equipment were recovered from the rebels, including looted items that they dropped during the attacks, he said.

The army has launched intensive aerial attacks on the rebels' positions in northern Uganda and southern Sudan, leading to the death of 28 rebels so far.

On Monday, the army helicopter gunship attacked a rebel hideout at Kadomera in the northern district of Kitgum district and killed at least 10 rebels.

Other rebels were killed in various attacks at Matidi, Patongo and Paracele in Pader and Kitgum districts.

LRA rebels, based in southern Sudan, have been fighting the Ugandan government for the last 19 years, killing tens of thousands of civilians and displacing over 1.4 million others.

(Xinhua News Agency August 18, 2005)