By Daniel Wallis

KAMPALA, June 26 (Reuters) Ugandan troops killed eight northern rebels in clashes last week, keeping up the pressure on fugitive guerrillas who have called for peace talks with the government, the army said today.

There is no ceasefire and fresh clashes have broken out as Uganda decides whether to meet representatives of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in neighbouring Southern Sudan.

''Eight LRA fighters were killed last week as they tried to raid camps in the north,'' said Uganda's army spokesman Major Felix Kulayigye. ''Our position is clear: operations continue.'' Four LRA rebels were also killed by Sudanese forces in Southern Sudan last week, a state governor said.

Northern Uganda had been relatively quiet in recent weeks.

LRA leader Joseph Kony, who is wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court (ICC) with four of his commanders, met South Sudanese officials in May and June, his first known meeting with mediators in years.

The South's regional government says it wants to broker an end to the 19-year conflict between the LRA and the Ugandan government, which has uprooted almost two million people in northern Uganda and destabilised southern Sudan.

Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni is being urged by ICC supporters not to negotiate with any of the wanted men, but he has given Kony until July 31 to surrender and receive amnesty.

REUTERS SHR HT1940