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At least 26 civilians were killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in south Sudan by suspected rebels from Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army, a Ugandan army spokesman said Friday.

The attackers raided two villages in northeastern Congo on Thursday and killed 16 people while another three were killed on a road in south Sudan, said Chris Magezi, the spokesman of a joint military operation against the rebels.

Magezi said seven other bodies were found by troops along the Congo-Sudan border where forces from Uganda, Congo and south Sudan are hunting the LRA.

"The allied forces condemn these attacks against innocent civilians by the LRA terrorists and this justifies the action the allied troops have taken," Magezi told AFP.

Troops from the three countries launched a military offensive on December 14 against the LRA, whose leader Joseph Kony has repeatedly refused to sign a final peace agreement with the Kampala government.

Kony cites International Criminal Court arrest warrants against him and his lieutenants as reasons for not signing the peace accord finalised in April.

The LRA is accused of having raped and mutilated civilians, forcibly enlisting child soldiers and of massacring thousands during the two decades conflict in northern Uganda.