At least three people were killed and 33 injured on Tuesday (November 16), according to police, in the Ugandan capital Kampala in a double suicide bombing claimed by the jihadist organization Islamic State (IS).
This is the second deadly attack in Uganda claimed by ISIS in a matter of weeks, after an October 23 bombing at a restaurant in Kampala that killed a waitress and injured several people.
Ugandan police attributed Tuesday's attacks to a "
local group linked to the ADF
", the Allied Democratic Forces, an active rebellion in eastern neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
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Since April 2019, some ADF attacks have been claimed by IS, which refers to the group as its “
Central African Province
” (Iscap in English).
In March, the United States placed the ADF on the list of “
terrorist organizations
” affiliated with ISIS.
The two explosions occurred three minutes apart, shortly after 10:00 a.m. local time (07:00 GMT), in the Kampala business district.
The first attack was carried out at a checkpoint near the police headquarters by a man carrying a bomb in a backpack.
The second by two men "
disguised as motorcycle taxis
" near the entrance to Parliament, according to police spokesman Fred Enanga.
Four attacks in less than a month
In a statement broadcast on its Telegram channels, ISIS confirmed that three suicide bombers carried out the two attacks, stressing that Uganda was "
among the states participating in the war against ISIS in Central Africa
". Fred Enanga said counter-terrorist forces arrested a fourth man and "
recovered an unexploded explosive device (...) from his home
". Wounded during his arrest, "
he died later,
" said President Yoweri Museveni in a statement released in the evening, assuring that the "
terrorists (...) will perish
".
The Head of State called on the population to "
remain vigilant and to control people at the entry points of bus parking lots, hotels, churches, mosques, markets ...
" This double attack comes three weeks after two more bomb attacks, one against a restaurant in the capital on October 23 claimed by Iscap and a suicide bombing carried out on a bus near Kampala two days later, which has not been claimed.
The Ugandan authorities had claimed to have established "
a high level of connection
" between the two attacks, attributed to the ADF group, a Muslim rebel group that appeared in Uganda which has been rooted for more than 25 years in the DRC, where it is accused of having killed thousands of civilians.
Most of the injured are police officers
Tuesday's attacks caused panic in Kampala's business district, where “
shredded
” and “
scattered
”
bodies
littered the ground, according to Fred Enanga.
The mayor of Kampala, Salim Uhuru, said he was in a bank near the police headquarters at the time of the explosion.
“
It was so strong.
I ran to the police station and saw a policeman I know dead on the ground.
His body was scattered,
”he told AFP.
According to the Ugandan Red Cross, 21 of the 33 injured were police officers.
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Ugandan police arrested suspected ADF members last month, claiming to suspect an attack on "
major facilities
". In addition to the two deadly attacks, ISIS also claimed responsibility on 8 October for a bombing of a police station in Kampala, which left no known casualties. "
It is increasingly clear that the ADF are refocusing their attention on Uganda,
" Kristof Titeca, a specialist in this armed group at the University of Antwerp, told AFP. "
This could be linked to an increased influence of jihadist elements within the ADF over the past two years,
" he said.
In 2010, two bomb attacks, claimed by the Somali Islamists Shebab, targeted supporters in Kampala attending the World Cup final, killing 76 people.
These attacks, the first committed by Somali insurgents outside Somalia, were seen as revenge after Uganda sent troops to Amisom, an African Union mission to support the Somali authorities. in the fight against the shebab.
