KAMPALA, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- Over 70 people including 57 soldiers died in a weekend road accident in east Uganda when a military truck rolled down a cliff.

    Maj. Felix Kulayigye, spokesman for the Uganda People's Defense Force (UPDF), said in a statement issued here on Monday that among the dead were soldiers, their wives and children.

    "The UPDF with deep sorrow informs the country of the death of 57 soldiers, 13 wives and two children who died in a road accident," it said.

    According to the statement, another 31 soldiers, 13 women and four children were injured in the Sunday afternoon accident. They were admitted in different hospitals in Kapchorwa, Mbale and Tororo districts.

    Kulayigye said the accident occurred two km from Kaserem town on Kapchorwa-Sironko road in eastern Uganda.

    The soldiers had just been relieved from a post at Bukwo to provide security to the community against the marauding Pokot cattle raiders from western Kenya. They were on the way of being transferred to Amudat as the accident occurred.

    The statement said the army has set up a probing committee to establish the exact cause of the deadliest accident that involved the UPDF soldiers.

    Police had, however, attributed the accident to the malfunctioning of the truck's brake system.

    "The brake of the truck failed while it was rolling down a cliff," Nicholas Ngonzi, Kapchorwa District Police Commander was quoted by the state-owned New Vision on Monday as saying.

    He said the truck, a semi-trailer, hit a pavement before it overturned.