Hajji Ali Mutawe, the resident commissioner of Kibaale district, confirmed the suspects were arrested from Kacu Forest Reserve in the district this week, following a tip off by intelligence officials and residents.

    "They (suspects) could be part of a larger group of rebels, who were attacked and scattered by the UPDF in Bugoma Forest recently," said Mutawe, who also heads the district security committee.

    "After being badly hit by the UPDF and some of their members killed, they have changed tactics and now move in smaller groups of five to ten people," Mutawe said.

    He said the suspects claim to be from Mwitanzige village of Kibaale district, but lack any supportive documents to justify their claims and failed to identify any of the leaders of the area where they claimed to come from.

    "They are giving contradictory answers on their names, places of origin and what they were doing in the forest," Mutawe said, adding that the suspects were currently being interrogated by officials from the army and police.

    The UPDF soldiers have been pursuing the ADF rebels in various forests in western Uganda, who fought Ugandan government from their base in the Democratic Republic of Congo for years.

    ADF rebels were reportedly fleeing the DR Congo following a combined operation by the Congolese army and the United Nations peacekeeping troops. Enditem