On this day in 2003, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) carried out one of its most chilling attacks on an educational institution in Northern Uganda, abducting 41 students from St Joseph’s Minor Seminary in Lacor, Gulu District, during a night raid that left the community shaken and in mourning.
The attack occurred at around 2:00am when an estimated 20 LRA fighters reportedly cut through wire locks at the seminary gate and overpowered a small Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) detachment stationed at the facility, about eight kilometres west of Gulu town. The rebels then stormed dormitories, forcing students out into the night.
“Most of the abducted boys were O-Level students from Gulu, Pader and Kitgum districts, areas that had already endured years of violence during the insurgency,” reads the historical account of the incident.
In the chaos of the raid, an eight-year-old girl was killed, deepening the tragedy that unfolded before dawn and sending shockwaves across Northern Uganda by morning.
St. Joseph’s Minor Seminary had long been considered a relatively secure refuge during the LRA insurgency. At the time, thousands of “night commuters”—children fleeing the threat of abduction from surrounding villages—would seek shelter at mission centres and schools each night before returning home in the morning.
The Lacor abduction revived memories of earlier mass kidnappings, most notably the 1996 abduction of 139 schoolgirls from St. Mary’s College Aboke in Apac District, an incident that drew international attention and underscored the LRA’s systematic targeting of schools.
Following the Lacor raid, reports indicated that LRA commander Onen Kamdulu contacted church leaders via radio, demanding the dismantling of government-protected internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in exchange for the release of the abducted students. The government did not accept the demand.
Although several of the abducted students were later rescued or escaped captivity, the psychological impact of the attack lingered deeply within the Gulu Diocese and the wider Acholi community.
The incident further prompted security reviews across Northern Uganda, as authorities and religious institutions grappled with the reality that even schools and religious institutions—once viewed as sanctuaries—had become vulnerable during the conflict.