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KAMPALA: Ugandan authorities have recovered the bodies of 41 people, including 38 students, following an attack by suspected rebels on a secondary school near the border with. Congosaid the local mayor on Saturday.
Among the victims were students, a guard and two community members who were killed outside the school, Mpondwe-Lubereha Mayor. Silvest Mabuse Associated Press. The rebels kidnapped an unknown number of people who fled across the porous border into Congo after the Friday night raid. Mabuse He said that while some students were fatally burned when the insurgents set fire to the dormitory, others were shot or hacked with machetes. The ADF rebels, who have been waging attacks for years from their bases in restive eastern Congo, carried out the raid on Luberiha Secondary School in the border town of Mbundwe, police said.
The school, co-ed and privately owned, is located in Uganda’s Kasese district, about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the Congo border. A dormitory was set on fire and a food store was looted. “So far, 25 bodies have been recovered from the school and taken to Buera Hospital,” the police said in a statement, adding that eight others were in critical condition.
Police said Ugandan forces tracked down the attackers in Congo’s Virunga National Park. The army confirmed in a statement that the Ugandan forces inside the Congo are “pursuing the enemy to rescue the abductees.” Joe ValosimpiAn official representing Uganda’s president in Kasese told the Associated Press by phone that some of the victims were “burned beyond recognition.”
Winnie Kizza, an influential political leader and former MP from the district, denounced the “cowardly attack” on Twitter. “Attacks on schools are unacceptable and a serious violation of children’s rights,” she said, adding that schools should always be “a safe place for every student.” The ADF has been accused of numerous attacks in recent years, targeting civilians in remote parts of eastern Congo. The ADF has long opposed the rule of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, a security ally of the United States who has been in power since 1986. The group was founded in the early 1990s by some. Ugandan Muslims, who said they had been neglected by Museveni’s policies. At the time, insurgents launched deadly attacks in Ugandan villages as well as in the capital, including a 1998 attack that killed 80 students in a town not from the site of the last attack.
Later, a Ugandan military offensive forced the ADF into eastern Congo, where many rebel groups were able to operate because the central government’s control there was limited. Since then, the organization has established relations with the Islamic State. In March, at least 19 people were killed in Congo by suspected ADF extremists. Ugandan authorities have vowed for years to track down ADF fighters even outside Ugandan territory. In 2021, Uganda launched joint air and artillery strikes in Congo against the group.
Among the victims were students, a guard and two community members who were killed outside the school, Mpondwe-Lubereha Mayor. Silvest Mabuse Associated Press. The rebels kidnapped an unknown number of people who fled across the porous border into Congo after the Friday night raid. Mabuse He said that while some students were fatally burned when the insurgents set fire to the dormitory, others were shot or hacked with machetes. The ADF rebels, who have been waging attacks for years from their bases in restive eastern Congo, carried out the raid on Luberiha Secondary School in the border town of Mbundwe, police said.
The school, co-ed and privately owned, is located in Uganda’s Kasese district, about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the Congo border. A dormitory was set on fire and a food store was looted. “So far, 25 bodies have been recovered from the school and taken to Buera Hospital,” the police said in a statement, adding that eight others were in critical condition.
Police said Ugandan forces tracked down the attackers in Congo’s Virunga National Park. The army confirmed in a statement that the Ugandan forces inside the Congo are “pursuing the enemy to rescue the abductees.” Joe ValosimpiAn official representing Uganda’s president in Kasese told the Associated Press by phone that some of the victims were “burned beyond recognition.”
Winnie Kizza, an influential political leader and former MP from the district, denounced the “cowardly attack” on Twitter. “Attacks on schools are unacceptable and a serious violation of children’s rights,” she said, adding that schools should always be “a safe place for every student.” The ADF has been accused of numerous attacks in recent years, targeting civilians in remote parts of eastern Congo. The ADF has long opposed the rule of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, a security ally of the United States who has been in power since 1986. The group was founded in the early 1990s by some. Ugandan Muslims, who said they had been neglected by Museveni’s policies. At the time, insurgents launched deadly attacks in Ugandan villages as well as in the capital, including a 1998 attack that killed 80 students in a town not from the site of the last attack.
Later, a Ugandan military offensive forced the ADF into eastern Congo, where many rebel groups were able to operate because the central government’s control there was limited. Since then, the organization has established relations with the Islamic State. In March, at least 19 people were killed in Congo by suspected ADF extremists. Ugandan authorities have vowed for years to track down ADF fighters even outside Ugandan territory. In 2021, Uganda launched joint air and artillery strikes in Congo against the group.
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