Earlier on Tuesday, two bombings in the Uganda capital Kampala killed at least three civilians and three suicide bombers. police According to the Associated Press, this was a coordinated attack by extremists.
Police spokesman Fred Henanga said the explosion occurred within three minutes. One explosion occurred near the police station, and the other explosion occurred near the parliament building.
According to police and witnesses, someone saw the legislator evacuating a nearby building with body parts scattered on the street.
“We thank God. He protected us,” witness Jane said near the scene of one of the explosions. “We heard an explosion first, and then we stayed for a while and heard another explosion. There was dust everywhere.”
Enanga told reporters that at least 33 people in the city’s main hospital are receiving treatment, and 5 of them are seriously injured.
“Bomb threats are still active, especially from suicide attackers,” Enanga said, blaming the blast on the Islamic extremist organization Democratic Alliance Forces.
In the past few weeks, Ugandan officials have been urging people to be vigilant against a series of bomb explosions.
Enanga said that at least 150 planned attacks have recently been resolved, describing a “domestic terrorist organization” eager to carry out more attacks.
For more reports from the Associated Press, please see below.
Hajarah Nalwadda/Associated Press Photo
On October 23, an explosion occurred in a restaurant on the outskirts of Kampala, killing one person and injuring at least seven others.
According to the police, another explosion on a passenger car two days later killed only the suicide bomber.
The recent explosion near the parliament appeared to be closer to an insurance company building, and the ensuing fire engulfed cars parked outside.
The police released a security video of the exact moment when the bomber detonated the device on the street, billowing white smoke in the air.
The Allied Democratic Forces, an affiliate of the Islamic State militant group in Central Africa, claimed responsibility for the attack on the restaurant. Enanga stated that the attack on Tuesday was a “sign” of the organization’s work, although it did not immediately claim responsibility for it.
The Allied Democratic Forces have long opposed the rule of President Yoweri Museveni, a longtime US security ally, who was the first peacekeeper to deploy in Somalia to protect the federal government from the extremist organization Al-Shabaab. Of African leaders.
In retaliation for Uganda’s deployment of troops to Somalia, the organization launched an attack in 2010 that killed at least 70 people who gathered in public places in Kampala to watch the World Cup football match.
However, the local Democratic Alliance forces have become a more pressing challenge for the 77-year-old Museveni, who has ruled Uganda for 35 years and was re-elected for a five-year term in January.
The organization was established in the early 1990s by Ugandan Muslims who said they were marginalized by Museveni’s policies. At the time, rebel groups launched deadly terrorist attacks in Ugandan villages and the capital, including an attack in 1998 that killed 80 students in a border town near the Congolese border.
Later, a military attack in Uganda forced the insurgents to enter eastern Congo. Due to the limited control of the central government there, many insurgent groups were able to move freely there.
According to the SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks online activities of extremist organizations, reports of the alliance between the Allied Democratic Forces and the Islamic State Group first appeared in 2019.
Ronald Kabubi/Associated Press Photo
