Three other people were wounded during the attack in the northern Lira district on Tuesday, army spokesman Lieutenant Martin Nsegeyunga told AFP by telephone from the northeastern town of Soroti.

"Nine people died and three others were injured, one seriously and he is now admitted at Soroti hospital," said Nsegeyunga.

The helicopter attack followed an ambush by rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) on a convoy of army vehicles during which three soldiers were killed, according to another army spokesman Major Shaban Bantariza.

The LRA has been fighting against President Yoweri Museveni's secular government since 1988, claiming that it wants to replace it with an administration that would enforce the biblical Ten Commandments.

But the group is better known for its atrocities against civilians, and has been condemned by a wide range of human rights groups and United Nations aid agencies.

WAR.WIRE