Dominic Ongwen, LRA commander, surrenders to U.S. troops

U.S. troops in the Central African Republic handed over a senior chief of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) to Ugandan security forces Wednesday.

LRA leader Dominic Ongwen, 34, surrendered to U.S. forces and was transferred to the Ugandan contingent of the African Union’s Regional Task Force (AURTF), Army Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said Wednesday, Reuters reported.

“The removal of this senior Lord’s Resistance Army leader from the battlefield is an example of the impact the AURTF has had in the fight to end the scourge of the LRA,” Col. Warren said, Reuters reported.

U.S. troops have been working in conjunction with AURTF in pursuit of LRA chief Joseph Kony. The State Department is offering rewards totaling $15 million for information leading to his capture.

U.S. Africa Command said in November 2013 that the LRA has “murdered, raped and kidnapped tens of thousands of innocent men, women and children,” The Associated Press reported.