In Uganda, one dead, injured in the explosion of a bus near Kampala

One person died and several were injured on Monday evening (October 25) in a bus explosion near Kampala, the capital of Uganda, police said two days after a deadly attack claimed by the Islamic State group (IS ) in the capital.

“A team of explosives specialists was dispatched to Lungala, on the Kampala-Masaka highway, after a deadly explosion in a bus belonging to the company Swift Safaris (…) around 17 o’clock “ (2 p.m. GMT), Ugandan police spokesman Fred Enanga said in a statement. “Access to the premises was prohibited pending a thorough assessment and investigation by explosives specialists”, he stressed.

Read also In Uganda, Islamic State group claims bomb attack in Kampala cafe

Mr. Enanga initially mentioned two deaths, as did one of the bus company executives, but Ugandan police later clarified that only one person had died. “Correction: one person has been confirmed dead by explosives specialists”, said the latter on her Twitter account.

The police did not give more details on the origin of the explosion but Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who also mentioned a death on Twitter, hinted that it was a bomb. He claimed that the police were investigating to determine whether the person killed “Was the one carrying the bomb or not”. “The other thirty-seven passengers are safe as well as the driver”, he added, still on the social network.

“Domestic terrorism”

The locality of Lungala is about 35 kilometers west of Kampala, on one of Uganda’s busiest roads, connecting the landlocked country with Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

On Saturday evening, a bomb attack left one dead and several injured in a popular restaurant in Kampala. Police described an explosive device on Sunday ” summary “ containing nails and pieces of metal, placed in a plastic bag left under a table by the alleged perpetrators.

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She also described the attack as “Domestic terrorism”. But it was claimed on Monday by the Islamic State in Central Africa group (Iscap) which said it had killed two people and injured five, in a statement quoted by the SITE Intelligence Group, an organization specializing in monitoring Islamist websites.

IS presents the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a Muslim rebel group that emerged in Uganda but has taken root for nearly thirty years in the DRC, where it is accused of having killed thousands of civilians like its branch in Central Africa . In March, the United States placed the ADF on the list of “Terrorist organizations” affiliated with ISIS.

76 dead in 2010

On October 8, Iscap claimed responsibility for a bomb attack – which had no known casualties – against a police station in Kawempe, near where Saturday’s explosion occurred.

The UK and France have since updated their travel advice for Uganda, calling for vigilance in high-traffic areas and public places such as restaurants, bars and hotels.

In August, Uganda claimed to have foiled a suicide bombing targeting the national funeral of a senior army official, Paul Lokech, who had notably led the fight in Somalia against Islamist rebels Chabab, linked to Al-Qaida. as the commander of the African Union operation in that country, Amisom. President Museveni blamed the attempted attack on the funeral “ADF terrorists”.

In 2010, two bombings in Kampala targeting supporters attending the FIFA World Cup final left 76 people dead. They had been claimed by the Chabab and were seen as retaliation for Uganda’s participation in Amisom.

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The World with AFP

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