- Brutal Attack on Ugandan School: Dozens of Students Killed
- Manhunt Underway for Allied Democratic Forces (ADF)
- A History of Violence: ADF’s Background and Recent Activities
IS-affiliated militants slaughtered nearly 40 students at a school in western Uganda.
The Lhubiriha secondary school in Mpondwe was attacked by five militants at approximately 23:30 (20:00 GMT) on Friday.
They entered dormitories and used machetes to slay and maim students, according to officials.
The Democratic Republic of Congo-based Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) have been implicated, and a manhunt is currently underway.
More than sixty students attend the school, the majority of whom reside in the area.
The information minister of Uganda verified the deaths of 37 students but did not specify their ages.
Twenty were attacked with machetes, and seventeen were charred to death, according to Chris Baryomunsi.
After the machete assault, the rebels reportedly threw a bomb into the dormitory, according to the survivors. It is unclear if this led to the previously reported fire in the building.
He added that six pupils were also kidnapped to transport food that the rebels stole from the school’s stores. The militants crossed the frontier back into the DRC.
Some of the bodies were reportedly severely burned, and DNA tests will be required to identify them.
After the attack, eight individuals remain in critical condition.
Secretary General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres condemned the “appalling act” and demanded that those responsible be brought to justice.
Soldiers are pursuing ADF insurgents towards the Virunga national park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which is Africa’s oldest and largest national park and home to uncommon species, such as mountain gorillas.
The vast expanse that borders Uganda and Rwanda is also used as a hideout by militias, including the ADF.
“Our forces are pursuing the enemy to rescue those who have been abducted and to destroy this group,” tweeted a spokesperson for the defense, Felix Kulayigye.
Additionally, the Ugandan army has deployed helicopters to assist in tracking the insurgent group through mountainous terrain.
Uganda and the DRC have conducted simultaneous military operations in eastern DRC to prevent ADF attacks.
Maj. Gen. Olum stated that security forces had intelligence that insurgents had been in the border region on the DRC side for at least two days before Friday night’s attack.
However, locals have criticized the government for not being prepared for an attack.
“If they say the borders are secure and security is tight, I want to know where they were when these murderers came to kill our people,” one resident told reporters.
The deadly incident follows an attack by suspected ADF militants on a DRC village near the Ugandan border last week. Over a hundred villagers who fled to Uganda have since returned.
The attack on the school, which is less than 2 kilometers (1.25 miles) from the frontier with the DRC, is the first of its kind on a Ugandan school in 25 years.
In June 1998, an attack by the ADF on Kichwamba Technical Institute near the frontier of the Democratic Republic of the Congo resulted in the deaths of 80 students, who were burned to death in their dormitories. More than one hundred pupils were kidnapped.
According to Richard Moncrieff, a regional expert with the International Crisis Group, the group may target schools to recruit minors.
Mr. Moncrieff, using an alternate acronym for IS, stated, “These are terrorist groups that want to make an impact through violence; they want to demonstrate to their colleagues and allies in other parts of the world that they are present and active.”
The ADF, created in eastern Uganda in the 1990s, fought President Yoweri Museveni over Muslim oppression.
According to official government statistics, Muslims make up nearly 14% of the Ugandan population, while the Ugandan Muslim Supreme Council estimates the proportion to be closer to 35%.
Ugandan Muslims report discrimination in school and the job.
After losing to Uganda in 2001, the ADF moved to North Kivu, DRC.
Principal group founder Jamil Makulu was apprehended in Tanzania in 2015 and is currently being held in a Ugandan prison.
Since the 1990s, ADF militants have been operating from within the DRC.
Musa Seka Baluku, Makulu’s successor, professed allegiance to IS in 2016, although IS didn’t recognise it until April 2019.
Despite various IS-affiliated extremist groups in the Middle East and Africa, Islamic State has been defeated.
After years of operating covertly in Uganda, the ADF was blamed in late 2021 for a succession of attacks, including suicide bombings in Kampala, Uganda’s capital.
