| Battle of Lira | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Uganda–Tanzania War | |||||||||
  Lira Battle of Lira (Uganda) | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Tanzania UNLF |
Uganda | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
|
Imran Kombe Roland Chacha David Oyite-Ojok | Unknown | ||||||||
| Units involved | |||||||||
|
201st Brigade Kikosi Maalum | Unknown | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 5,000 | ~300 | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
|
4 Tanzanians killed 4 Tanzanians wounded |
70+ killed 18 captured | ||||||||
The Battle of Lira was one of the last battles in the Uganda–Tanzania War, fought by Tanzania and its Uganda National Liberation Front (UNLF) allies, against Uganda Army troops loyal to Idi Amin on 15 May 1979. The Tanzanian-led forces easily routed Lira's garrison of Amin loyalists, and then intercepted and destroyed one retreating column of Uganda Army soldiers near the town.
Idi Amin had seized power in Uganda in 1971 and established a brutal dictatorship. Seven years later he attempted to invade neighbouring Tanzania to the south. The attack was repulsed, and the Tanzanians launched a counter-attack into Ugandan territory. After a number of battles, Amin's regime and military largely collapsed, whereupon Tanzania and its Ugandan allies of the UNLF began to mop up the last pro-Amin holdouts in Uganda's east and north. One of these was the town of Lira, whose capture was entrusted to a force consisting of the Tanzanian 201st Brigade and the UNLF's Kikosi Maalum force.
While approaching Lira, the Tanzanian-UNLF force divided into two groups, with the main force attacking the town from the south. The other force was ordered to set up an ambush along the western approach in order to destroy Uganda Army troops who attempted to flee the town. The Tanzanian-led troops began their assault on Lira on 15 May 1979, and the garrison began to retreat. One column of retreating soldiers ran into the advancing Tanzanian-UNLF troops west of the town, and was almost completely destroyed. Lira was consequently occupied by the Tanzanians and UNLF fighters without further resistance.