By Will Ross BBC Uganda reporter

The Ugandan army says rebels of the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) have attacked and abducted 24 civilians in the north of Uganda.

They say the attacks were on two of the camps where hundreds of thousands of Ugandans have been forced to stay because of the 16-year war.

The attacks come at a time when the Ugandan army has deployed thousands of troops inside southern Sudan with the co-operation of the Khartoum government in an attempt to defeat the rebels.

According to military sources, the rebels attacked Cwero Camp, which lies 30 kilometres from Gulu town on the road to Kitgum, at dawn on Wednesday.

Civilian camps

The rebels, under the command of Vincent Otti, abducted 24 civilians and looted food from trading centres.

Thousands of children have been abducted by LRA rebels

It is not known if the civilians were abducted simply to carry the loot, in which case they are likely to be released, or whether they have been taken as long-term recruits into the LRA.

Military sources have also confirmed that earlier this week close to 100 LRA rebels under the command of Majoy Kwayelo attacked another camp for internally displaced people near the village of Pabo, also in Gulu district, where they burnt more than 500 huts.

There have been fears expressed that while the Ugandan army has 10,000 troops inside southern Sudan, it does not have sufficient numbers of troops protecting the civilian camps in northern Uganda.

The Ugandan army has said it is currently sending troops from the border area to protect the camps and is also pursuing the rebel groups that carried out the attacks.

When about 250 rebels led by Vincent Otti crossed back into Uganda earlier this month, the Ugandan army said it knew where they were and was pursuing them.

The rebels then released 100 of the abducted women and children.

But what people are asking now is why the Ugandan army has so far failed to find and defeat this group of armed rebels.

On Thursday, reports from Gulu town said that the situation has been tense in the town due to the sound of gunfire and news of rebel movements.

There are also reports reaching Gulu of two rebel ambushes which took place on Thursday morning:

One in Pajule on the road between Kitgum and Lira where a vehicle was burnt and a civilian killed, and a second in Lacek-Ocot in Pader District where one woman and a child are reported to have been killed.