Militants linked to the Islamic State group conducted an attack on a school in western Uganda, resulting in the death of at least 37 people and the abduction of six others. This incident marks the country’s worst attack in years.
Militants linked to the Islamic State group massacred at least 37 people and abducted six others in western Uganda, the army said Saturday, in the country’s worst such attack in years.
The military said it was pursuing the attackers from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) after they raided a school late Friday near the border of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Officials said dormitories were locked and set alight and students cut down with knives in a grisly late-night assault on Lhubiriha Secondary School in Mpondwe.
Police and army officials blamed the ADF, one of the deadliest militias over the border in DR Congo’s strife-torn east, which the Islamic State group has called its local offshoot.
“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 the attack.
He said eight people were injured and six others kidnapped and taken toward Virunga National Park, a vast expanse which straddles the border.
“UPDF embarked on pursuing the perpetrators to rescue the abducted students.”
Joe Walusimbi, resident commissioner for the district of Kasese where the attack occurred, earlier told AFP that at least 25 of the deceased were students at the school.
Police have not released details about the victims’ ages or how many were students.
Outside the school, heavily-armed soldiers and police stood guard, where a large crowd gathered and distraught survivors were comforted by loved ones.
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.
Marie de La Roche Saint-André, with AFP
