Getting closer to capturing Kony: Uganda captures top LRA commander

Uganda troops hunt for Joseph Kony. PHOTO/Rodney Muhumuza/AP

A Ugandan army official says Ugandan forces have captured a senior commander of Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) after a brief fight with rebels near the Congo-Central African Republic border.

Lt. Col. Abdul Rugumayo said Sunday that Caesar Acellam was captured Saturday with two other rebel fighters.

Rugumayo said they were in a group of about 30 LRA rebels. The others escaped.

Although Acellam is not one of the LRA commanders indicted along with Kony in 2005 by the International Criminal Court, Ugandan officials say he was Kony’s top military strategist.

Kony recently became the focus of international attention after the U.S. advocacy group Invisible Children made an online video seeking to make him famous.

U.S. forces are working with Ugandan troops to find Kony and his top lieutenants.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press