Militants linked to the Islamic State group hacked and burned 37 students to death in western Uganda in the country’s worst such attack in more than a decade, army and police officials said yesterday.
The army said it was pursuing militants from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) after the cross-border raid late on Friday on a secondary school in Mpondwe in Kasese District near the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo).
Investigators said that dormitories were set alight and students cut down with knives in a brutal late-night assault by ADF, which is one of the deadliest groups active in DR Congo’s strife-torn east.
Photo: AFP
“Unfortunately, 37 bodies have been discovered and conveyed to Bwera hospital mortuary,” Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF) spokesman Felix Kulayigye said in a statement, referring to a town near where the attack occurred.
Eight people were injured, while six were kidnapped and taken by the attackers toward Virunga National Park, which straddles the DR Congo border, he added.
“UPDF embarked on pursuing the perpetrators to rescue the abducted students,” he said
The Kasese Resident Commissioner Joe Walusimbi said that at least 25 of the deceased were “confirmed to be students at the school.”
It is the deadliest attack in Uganda since twin bombings in Kampala in 2010 killed 76 in a strike claimed by the Somalia-based al-Shabaab group.
A police report seen by Agence France-Presse said that police and military units were alerted to a “big attack” at Lhubiriha Secondary School in Mpondwe at about 11pm on Friday evening.
“On arrival the school was found burning and the dead bodies of students were found lying in the compound and the school’s food store broken into” with items missing, the report said.
The school is less than 2km from the DR Congo border, where the ADF is primarily active. The group has been accused of killing thousands of civilians since the 1990s.
Ugandan Major General Dick Olum said that intelligence suggested the presence of the ADF in the area at least two days before the attack, and an investigation would be needed to establish what went wrong.
It appeared the attackers had detailed information about the school, he said.
“They knew where the boys’ and girls’ dormitories resided,” Olum said from Mpondwe.
“This is why the rebels locked the boys’ dormitory and set it on fire. The rebels did not lock girls’ section and the girls managed to get out, but they were cut with machetes as they ran for safety, and others shot,” he said.
He said that some of the bodies were burned beyond recognition and DNA testing would be required to identify them.
“We have called for more firepower, planes to help in the rescue operation of those abducted, and locating the rebel hideouts for military action,” he said.
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