KAMPALA: Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni on Sunday ordered more troops to western Uganda where attackers from a group with links to Islamic State killed at least 37 secondary school students.
Members of the rebel Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) killed the students late on Friday at Lhubirira Secondary School in Mpondwe, near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Military and police said the attackers had also abducted six students and fled towards the Virunga National Park across the border. Their fate is unknown.
Museveni said more soldiers had joined the pursuit in the area, which includes Rwenzori Mountain, from where the ADF launched their insurgency against Museveni in the 1990s.
"We are now sending more troops into the area south of Rwenzori Mountain," he said in a statement.
"Their action, the desperate, cowardly, terrorist action, therefore, will not save them. We are bringing new forces to the Uganda side as we continue the hunting on the Congo side."
On Saturday, privately owned NTV Uganda television said the death toll stood at 41, while the state-run New Vision newspaper said it was 42. New Vision said 39 of the dead were students, and some were killed when the attackers set off a bomb as they fled.
The attack drew widespread international condemnation including from the United Nations, the African Union and East African's Intergovernmental Authority on Development. Ugandans were shocked by the attack.
"Parents across the country, please do not panic, our children are safe, and they will remain safe. They are evil people and they are trying to harm our children, but they will not manage," Janet Museveni, the First Lady and Education Minister, said late on Saturday.
Museveni said the government would also investigate if there were any lapses that enabled the attack to happen.
"Was an alarm sounded and by whom? How did the nearby security people respond? Why didn’t our people on the Congo side have intelligence on this splinter group etc?" Museveni said.
The ADF was largely defeated by the Ugandan military but remnants fled into the vast jungles of eastern Congo from where they have since maintained their insurgency - attacking civilian and military targets in Congo and Uganda.
In April, the ADF attacked a village in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, killing at least 20 people.
Reuters
Mon Jun 19 2023
Ugandan security forces stand guard as locals gather at the cordoned scene outside the Mpondwe Lhubirira Secondary School, after militants linked to rebel group Allied Democratic Forces killed and abducted multiple people, in Mpondwe. - REUTERS
KDN muktamad pembelian empat helikopter untuk APMM bernilai RM600 juta
Kertas kerja bagi perolehan aset itu sudah diserahkan kepada Kementerian Kewangan untuk keputusan akhir.
Kempen PRK KKB lancar setakat ini - Polis Selangor
Kempen PRK DUN KKB yang memasuki hari ketiga hari ini berjalan lancar dan tiada sebarang insiden tidak diingini dilaporkan setakat ini.
Buletin AWANI Khas: Asia Barat sedang ‘Stress’: Dialog menteri-menteri dunia Arab
Situasi meruncing di Gaza, konflik Iran-Israel dan ditambah pula persaingan kuat dua kuasa, Amerika Syarikat dan China dilihat terus membayangi percaturan geopolitik dan geoekonomi negara-negara Islam di Asia Barat. Beberapa Menteri Luar negara-negara Arab duduk sepentas di Mesyuarat Khas WEF, Riyadh dalam sesi ini.
#SpecialMeeting24
#SpecialMeeting24
AWANI Ringkas: Projek NTC | Sindiket Dadah
Ikuti rangkuman berita utama yang menjadi tumpuan sepanjang hari di Astro AWANI menerusi AWANI Ringkas.
Kilang cat terbakar, dua sekolah di Meru diarah ditutup
Penutupan dua buah sekolah terlibat iaitu SK Meru dan Sekolah Rendah Agama Meru 2 itu dibuat atas faktor keselamatan.
AWANI 7:45 [29/04/2024] – Meja bulat bersama 50 pemimpin industri dunia | Penggunaan komersial capai 80 peratus
PM yakin Malaysia jadi destinasi pelabur bernilai tinggi.
Kerajaan perkenal program solar untuk pengguna komersial.
Kelas Terapung dilaksana kawasan penduduk kepadatan tinggi.
Laporan Bank Dunia dedah hanya 58 peratus pelajar mahir membaca menjelang akhir darjah 5.
Kerajaan perkenal program solar untuk pengguna komersial.
Kelas Terapung dilaksana kawasan penduduk kepadatan tinggi.
Laporan Bank Dunia dedah hanya 58 peratus pelajar mahir membaca menjelang akhir darjah 5.
Malaysia perlu berani menentang Denmark
Hanya kemenangan menentang Denmark, kuasa besar badminton dunia, dalam aksi penting Kumpulan D Piala Thomas 2024 esok akan membawa Malaysia mendahului carta kedudukan.
Indonesia sokong pendekatan Malaysia bantu bangun 'peradaban' banduan Indonesia
Penjara bukan semata-mata tempat menghukum tetapi mentransformasikan ia sebagai institusi pendidikan yang memberi peluang kepada penghuni.
Polis tembak kereta mewah bawa dadah lebih RM100,000
Polis terpaksa melepaskan tembakan bagi mengawal keadaan selepas pemandu kenderaan terbabit bertindak agresif dan cuba merempuh anggota polis .
Polis siasat dakwaan pusat keagamaan di Nilai lakukan aktiviti mencurigakan
Ketua Polis Negeri Sembilan Datuk Ahmad Dzaffir Mohd Yussof berkata pihaknya menerima laporan berhubung perkara tersebut Jumat lepas.
Uganda berkata keputusan hakimnya di ICJ yang memihak kepada Israel tidak mewakili pendiriannya
Uganda berkata pendirian hakim ICJ, Julia Sebutinde dalam kes terhadap Israel berkaitan perang di Gaza, tidak mewakili pendirian negara itu.
Timbalan Menteri Luar ketua delegasi Malaysia ke NAM
Kenyataan Malaysia antara lain akan menekankan keperluan untuk mengukuhkan perpaduan dan solidariti dalam kalangan negara-negara membangun.
Wan Junaidi, Johari hadiri persidangan CSPOC di Uganda esok
Wan Junaidi dan Johari Abdul akan menghadiri persidangan Conference of Speakers and Presiding Officers of The Commonwealth di Uganda.
Nenek 70 tahun lahir anak kembar guna kaedah IVF
Safina Namukwaya melahirkan sepasang anak kembar lelaki dan perempuan dengan kaedah pembedahan caesarean pada Rabu lalu.
Dua maut, sekumpulan gajah terlepas dari taman di Uganda
Dua orang terbunuh manakala tanaman turut musnah selepas sekawan gajah terlepas dari sebuah taman di Uganda.
Sekurang-kurangnya 37 orang terbunuh serangan ke atas sekolah di Uganda
Lapan lagi mangsa telah dibawa ke hospital dan dilaporkan berada dalam keadaan kritikal.
Pesawat Turkish Airlines patah balik ke Uganda akibat burung
Sebuah pesawat Turkish Airlines yang dijadual berlepas ke Istanbul terpaksa berpatah balik ke Lapangan Terbang Antarabangsa Entebbe Uganda pada pagi Selasa selepas ia terlanggar kawanan burung.
16 maut dalam nahas jalan raya di Uganda
Seramai 16 orang maut dalam nahas jalan raya membabitkan sebuah bas dan lori di daerah Oyam, utara Uganda.
9 terbunuh dalam rempuhan ketika sambutan tahun baharu
Menurut polis kejadian itu melibatkan beberapa juvana yang sedang menghadiri pertunjukan muzik.
11 maut asrama pelajar buta terbakar
Sebelas individu termasuk kanak-kanak dilaporkan maut selepas api marak memusnahkan sebuah asrama yang menempatkan pelajar buta.