At least 52 bodies of people killed in last weekend's fighting in Uganda's Kasese District were buried Sunday.

The bodies were buried in the morning at the Kihara army barracks, Nyamwamba Division, Kasese Municipality.

Each body was buried in a separate grave after some families failed to identify relatives from the pile of corpses that had been at the mortuary for close to a week.

Unclaimed bodies

Local leaders and security officials had on Friday resolved that the unclaimed bodies be buried in a mass grave at the district headquarters.

However, the Kasese Resident District Commissioner, Maj James Mwesigye, said they had received instructions to abandon the earlier plan.

District leaders on Saturday resolved that the bodies be buried at the barracks, since there was no adequate space at the district headquarters at Rukoki, five kilometres from Kasese town.

Access to the burial site was restricted with the police allowing only the media and relatives.

His brother

The burial was conducted by the police and Uganda Peoples' Defence Forces (UPDF) soldiers.

Mr Julius Ndungu, who has failed to trace the whereabouts of his brother, Mr Gideon Matte, a royal guard, said he had no option but to accept that he could have died in the palace attack.

Mr Ndungu said the bodies should have been buried in a public area since the barracks is a restricted place, and they may not be allowed at the site if they wanted to pray for the victims.