Earlier on Tuesday, two explosions struck Uganda’s capital, Kampala, killing at least three civilians as police described it as a coordinated attack by terrorists.
According to police, three suicide bombers were also killed in the blast. The explosion caused confusion in Kampala as the horrified residents fled the city center.
Police spokesman Fred Enanga blamed the blast of the Islamic terrorist group Allied Democratic Forces, saying that “the threat of bombs continues to be especially from suicide bombers.”
The twin explosions occurred within 3 minutes of each other. Both were performed by an attacker carrying explosives. According to Enanga, the possibility of an attack on a third target was thwarted by police who pursued and disarmed the suspected suicide bomber.
According to police and witnesses, one explosion was near the police station and the other was on the street near the Capitol. An explosion near Congress appears to have hit near the building that houses the insurance company, and subsequent fires parked the car outside. Parts of the body were seen scattered down the street, and later some lawmakers were seen evacuating from the nearby Parliament building.
Enanga told reporters that at least 33 people were being treated at major public referral hospitals in the city. Five were seriously injured, he said.
According to footage posted on social media, police blocked a large area near the blast site, causing people to rush away from the city in the aftermath of the attack.
Ugandan officials have warned of a series of bomb explosions in recent weeks.
On October 23, one person was killed and at least seven were injured in a restaurant on the outskirts of Kampara.
According to police, only a suicide bomber died in another explosion on a passenger bus two days later.
Even before these attacks, the British government updated Uganda’s travel recommendations, stating that terrorists were “very likely to attempt an attack” in this East African country.
Allied forces, a member of the ISIS terrorist group in Central Africa, have claimed responsibility for attacks on restaurants. Police spokesman Enanga said Tuesday’s attack created a “characteristic” of the group’s activities, but there was no immediate liability claim.
He said at least 150 planned attacks were recently rejected and described a “domestic terrorist group” eager to carry out more attacks.
The Allied Democratic Forces have long been under the control of US security ally Yoweri Museveni, the first African leader to deploy peacekeeping forces in Somalia to protect the federal government from the terrorist group al-Shabaab. I have been against it for a while. In retaliation for the deployment of troops to Somalia in Uganda, the group launched an attack in 2010, killing at least 70 people who gathered in public places in Kampala to watch a World Cup football match.
However, the Allied forces with local roots pose a more pressing challenge for Museveni, who has ruled Uganda for 35 years.
This group was founded in the early 1990s by Ugandan Museveni who said they were on the sidelines by Museveni’s policies. At that time, rebel groups launched deadly terrorist attacks in Ugandan villages and capitals, including a 1998 attack in which 80 students were slaughtered in a frontier town near the Congolese border.
Later, Ugandan military attacks pushed rebels to eastern Congo. Due to the limited control of the central government, many rebel groups are free to roam.
According to the SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks the online activities of militant groups, reports of an alliance between the Allied Forces and the ISIS Terrorist Group first appeared in 2019.
Epoch Times staff contributed to this report
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