By HOMELAND MEDIA TEAM
The Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF) has as part on the ongoing operation Shuja with Congolese FARDC killed another Allied Democratic Forces(ADF) commander in eastern DRC.
According to the Ugandan army, the ADF commander named Lubangakane, one of the most senior under Amigo’s camp was killed in Mwalika valley on Sunday, July, 9,2023.
He was killed together with three of his fighters and two guns including a PMK machine gun and an SMG were recovered from them.
The rebels have been on the receiving end for the last three weeks since the attack on Lubiriha secondary school last month in Kasese on the Uganda/DRC boarder.
The overall commander of Operation Shuja, Maj Gen Dick Olum confirmed the killing of the ADF commander.
“My forces under Makindye battalion, had a contact early this morning and Lubangakane, a dare devil commander of the ADF did not survive. We are not relenting on our mission of degrading ADF,” Maj Gen Olum said.
The battle-hardened UPDF general who relocated his tactical headquarters to Kasindi in North Kivu, further confirmed that his troops have so far recovered 10 weapons in the last three weeks.
“We are making awesome progress. The operation tempo is high, we recover a weapon almost every after two days, and this is very good.”
Lubangakene is yet another ADF commander killed by the UPDF in the ongoing operation Shuja jointly conducted with the Congolese army, FARDC.
Early this year, the Ugandan army killed Seka Wankaba a Ugandan who was part of ADF leader Mularo Seguja’s group and a highly trained Improvised Explosive Divice (IED) expert.
The UPDF also killed Ssegujja, also known as Fezza, Feeza and Mulalo one of the most wanted ADF commanders.
Several other commanders have been killed by the joint operation.
President Museveni last month said the ADF initially concentrated west of the Rwenzori.
He however noted that due to the pounding of the rebel cum terrorist outfit by the UPDF , they have split into smaller groups South of the Rwenzori Mountain, South of the Kasindi-Beni Road, in the Mwalika Valley, around Biruunga National Park in Congo, Opposite Lake Edward (Rutshuru, Butuumbi).
According to the Ugandan president, said after killing other commanders, the UPDF is on the hunt for Arab, Abua-Kasi, the commander who replaced the killed Mulaalo .
The Ugandan troops are also hunting for Amigo.
The latest killed commander, Lubangakene was operating under Amigo.
However, despite these achievements, the whereabouts of the top most commander, Musa Baluku are not known since the operation started two years ago.
Whereas initial reports at the start of the operation indicated he had been killed in one of the air and artillery strikes by the Ugandan army, no further evidence has been provided to prove this.
However, Baluku seems to have gone underground and no information regarding his activities in DRC has surfaced by officials from the Ugandan army say the hunt for him is still on.
President Museveni last month said a total of 508 ADF combatants have been put out of action and 109 SMGs, five PKMs, three RPGs recovered since the operation started in November 2021.
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