Kampala, Uganda | Xinhua | Ugandan police have urged the public to remain calm and continue with their normal activities as security forces investigate a bomb explosion that occurred Tuesday near a church in Munyonyo, a suburb of the capital, Kampala.
Inspector General of Police Abbas Byakagaba told reporters at the scene that various security agencies had been deployed to conduct a thorough investigation. He confirmed that no civilians were injured or killed in the incident, apart from the two suspected terrorists who were riding a motorcycle.
“It is too early to give anything tangible. We ask our people to remain alert, to be conscious of the environment around them. The situation is under control and let them continue with celebration of Martyrs’ Day and all other activities. We assure them of security,” Byakagaba said.
Earlier, military spokesperson Chris Magezi told Xinhua by telephone that the army had killed two suspected suicide bombers, one of them a woman.
Magezi said an explosive device went off during an attempt to intercept the suspects.
There was heavy deployment of police and military at the scene, which was cordoned off, and roads leading to the area were blocked.
An eyewitness at the scene told Xinhua that the suspects, a man and a woman, were riding on a motorcycle.
“When they reached the church where people had gathered for prayers, the woman failed to access it because of the heavy security,” the eyewitness said. “Shortly after they left the place, there was an explosion which killed both of them.”
The incident occurred as the country was commemorating Martyrs’ Day, a national public holiday that attracts thousands of pilgrims from within Uganda and abroad.
The last similar attack occurred in Kampala in November 2021, when terrorists detonated bombs near a police station and government offices.
The Ugandan military attributed those attacks to the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a rebel group affiliated with the Islamic State in Central Africa. The ADF, originally a Ugandan insurgent group, is currently based in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. ■
