Kampala - The Ugandan army has extended its operations against rebel group the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) to the Central African Republic, an army spokesman said Tuesday.

Uganda was already battling the rebels, who have refused to sign a final peace deal to bring an official end to their decades-long rebellion, in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

"There was a meeting last month between regional leaders in Kinshasa and it was agreed to fight the LRA in the CAR," Lieutenant Colonel Felix Kulayigye told the German Press Agency dpa. "We have squads that remained in DR Congo and these are pursuing the LRA in the CAR."

The LRA fought a decades-long civil war in northern Uganda, where they left thousands dead and mutilated and abducted thousands of children abducted.

They fled to north-east DR Congo in 2004, then in 2006 agreed to end the war through peace talks.

However, the LRA refused to sign a final peace deal and demanded an assurance that their leaders would not be taken to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to face indictments on war crimes charges.

In December 2008, a joint force of Ugandan, Congolese, Sudanese and UN troops began fighting the LRA in DR Congo.

The LRA carried out reprisal attacks against civilians in DR Congo, Sudan and the CAR, killing over one thousand people and forcing thousands of others to flee. (dpa)