from HASSAN ONYANGO in Kampala, Uganda
KAMPALA, (CAJ News) – FOUR people, including two children, have been killed in recent weeks as domestic terrorism perpetrated by Islamist groups grips Uganda.
Seven other civilians have been injured.
Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) documented the terror attacks for the month of October, when four bomb attacks were recorded.
Since AOAV’s Explosive Violence Monitor began in 2011, eleven incidents of explosive violence have been recorded, totalling 47 civilian casualties (13 killed and 34 injured).
There have been three armed-actor casualties (1 killed, 2 injured).
The region’s Islamic State groups, namely Islamic State (IS) Central Africa Province and local affiliate Islamist militant group Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) have claimed responsibility for two of the attacks in October.
The other two incidents remain unclaimed.
On October 8, IS militants detonated a bomb at a police post in Kawempe, a neighbourhood of the capital city Kampala.
The attack caused no casualties but was the first act of domestic terrorism in Uganda to be claimed by the IS.
On October 23, three IS militants posing as customers planted a bomb at a popular roadside restaurant in the same neighbourhood, killing a 20-year old waitress and injuring three others.
Some 48 suspects have been detained in relation to the incident.
On October 25, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive vest on a long-distance passenger bus near Kampala, killing himself and wounding three civilians.
Fred Enanga, the police spokesman said the bomber was on the wanted list of members of the ADF.
Also on the 25th, two children were killed by an explosive device given to them, under the guise it was an exotic jackfruit, while they were playing.
The deceased were identified as a 14-year-old boy and a child with disabilities.
Ugandan authorities are investigating the attacks.
Heightened security checks are being carried out at Kampala’s major transportation sites.
Attacks have raised concerns ADF is moving operations into Uganda from its historical base in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The insurgent group was established in the 1990s in opposition to President Yoweri Museveni and loyal to military strongman and former president, Idi Amin.
After its defeat in Uganda in 2001, ADF moved into northern DRC.
It has allegedly killed at least 739 civilians in the region since May 2021, according to AOAV.
– CAJ News