Unspeakable horror took place in a small Ugandan town near the border of the Democratic Republic of Congo last Friday night, when members of the Islamic State-linked militant group, Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) stormed a private secondary school, killing 37 people — many of them students.
More than half of Mpondwe Lhubiriha Secondary School’s student population were murdered by the militants, who, according to one local resident, shouted “Allahu Akbar” (“God is greatest”) after the attacks.
Three students were rescued from the scene, while eight others were taken to hospital in a critical condition.
The attackers went on to kill another three other people as they fled the school, bringing the death total to 41.
Janet Museveni, Uganda’s first lady and minister of education and sports, delivered a speech on Saturday night on the state broadcaster, describing the attacks as “a terrible tragedy.”
“This is a difficult time for all of us as Ugandans,” Museveni said. “This terrorist group couldn’t enter, so they threw in a bomb, they threw in a petrol bomb. So, these children were burnt.”
On Sunday, her husband, President Yoweri Museveni, called the attacks “criminal, desperate, terrorist and futile,” and promised to deploy more troops on the Ugandan side of the border. He also instructed officials from the Ministry of Education to visit the school as soon as possible.
Police spokesman, Fred Enanga, said on Twitter that the attackers set a dormitory on fire, looted the school’s food supplies, and burned down the school’s library.
They also kidnapped six students whom they forced to carry the looted goods, according to a statement made by military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Felix Kulayigye.
The commander of Uganda’s military operation in Congo, Major General Dick Olum told residents of the Kasese District in western Uganda that rebel members of the ADF had spent two nights in the town before they attacked the school.
He vowed to bring the perpetrators to account, adding that the government had already deployed planes to search for them. He also revealed that government pathologists will carry out DNA tests to identify the bodies of the victims.
The mayor of the town where the school is located, Selevest Mapoze, echoed General Olum’s statement, saying that family members have camped at a mortuary waiting for the bodies of their loved ones.
Others, he said, had fled the town for fear of another attack.
“We are trying to convince them to come back because we are handling the security,” he told the New York Times. “But it’s tough. The mood is heavy. A heavy silence has taken over the town.”
Around the world, western embassies have reacted to the attacks with outrage, condemning the ADF and calling on the Ugandan government to implement measures to stop such attacks from happening in the future.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the incident as “an appalling act”, while Ugandan opposition leader, Bobi Wine said on Twitter, “We hope that investigations can begin in earnest so that the perpetrators of this crime face justice.”
The Allied Democratic Forces was created in 1995 by two groups (one of them an Islamist group) who opposed President Museveni. They allege the president of persecuting Muslims.
Since then, the group have wrecked terror and havoc across several communities in Uganda.
In 1998, rebels affiliated with the group stormed a technical college in western Uganda, killing 80 students and kidnapping 100 others. In November 2021, suicide bombers set off coordinated explosions in the capital, Kampala, killing three people.
In March this year, ADF members raided a small village in eastern Congo, murdering 36 people in a village in North Kivu Province.