More than 130 000 people have been displaced in northern DR Congo after fresh attacks by Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels, the UN said on Friday.

The spate of attacks on the civilian population follow joint efforts by Congolese, Ugandan and south Sudanese forces to flush out the LRA, which has been based in northern DR Congo's Garamba National Park for several years.

"The number of persons displaced is estimated at more than 130,000, or nearly half the population of the territory of Dungu," the region's main city, the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

More than 8000 people have fled to neighbouring Sudan from Congo's Orientale province, OCHA said.

OCHA said the LRA had killed 896 people, and abducted 711, including 540 children, between the beginning of December and January 17.

The joint operation began on 14 December.

The UN peacekeeping mission in DR Congo, MONUC, said on Wednesday its forces had discovered at least 100 bodies of people killed by LRA rebels.

The victims are believed to have been killed in an attack by LRA rebels on the village of Tora in the northeastern Orientale province on January 16.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, warned Tuesday that the joint military operation "could lead to further human rights abuses being perpetrated against the civilian population who are, in effect, caught between the conflicting parties."

The joint operation has so far failed to capture LRA leader Joseph Kony.