The raid on Apule, 250-kilometers east of the capital, Kampala, lasted until Saturday, when the Ugandan army stepped in to halt the fighting. Eyewitnesses say most of those killed in the attack were women, children, and the elderly. Many of the victims were wounded or killed and then dumped in the bushes around the village. A rescue operation by the World Lutheran Federation managed to collect some injured children and take them to a hospital. This attack is the latest in a series of raids and reprisals between rival clans in Uganda's Karamojo region.
Cattle rustling is a long standing tradition among Uganda's pastoral tribes.
But the cattle raids during the past few months have grown more deadly. In July, Matheniko fighters raided some Bokara settlements, slaughtering 140-people. Those incidents prompted the deployment of about four- thousand Ugandan army troops in the region to try to stop the clashes and help guard the livestock of the various clans. This latest attack in Apule was finally stopped when the Ugandan army arrived and used helicopter gunships to control the area. The intervention has caused some controversy.