Three dead in Uganda bombing blamed on ISIS-linked group

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At least three people were killed in two explosions that rocked central Kampala on Tuesday in what Ugandan police called attacks coordinated by a “radicalized” group suspected of being linked to jihadist Isis.

More than 30 people were injured, including five people in critical condition, according to police spokesman Fred Enanga, who added that three suspected suicide bombers also died in the blasts.

The two explosions, one near a police station and the other near parliament, occurred within minutes of each other, while an attack on a third target was foiled by police.

Ugandan police blamed the blasts on groups linked to the Allied Democratic Forces, or ADF, an Islamic extremist group that operates from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, originally from Uganda and opposed to long-time President Yoweri Museveni.

Late Tuesday, Museveni called the attackers “pigs” and said they were part of the “ADF group that attacked” a Ugandan government minister, General Katumba Wamala, during an assassination attempt in June, injuring him and killing his daughter and driver.

“They have emerged as we are more prepared for urban terrorism. They will perish, ”Museveni said.

Tuesday’s attacks bore the “mark” of the Islamic State of Central Africa Province, or ISCAP, a branch of the ADF, Enanga said, although the group has yet to claim responsibility. The United States calls the ADF an affiliate of the Islamic State.

The threat posed by groups linked to ISIS is increasing in parts of eastern and central Africa, analysts warn. In northern Mozambique, a group known to locals as Shabaab has loose ties to Isis and has terrorized the northern province of Cabo Delgado for the past four years.

“With today’s attacks in Kampala, we are starting to see signs of the development of a regional network of IED funding, recruitment and proliferation connected to individuals affiliated with Isis who both operate in ADF camps in eastern Congo and among militants in northern Mozambique, ”said Dino Mahtani, deputy Africa director of Crisis Group. “What happened in Kampala will be just one dimension of a global regional terrorist threat that is emerging.”

“In the past few years, the ADF leadership has been mostly made up of those who have the agenda to overthrow the Ugandan state. In recent years, his main faction has sworn allegiance to Isis, ”Mahtani said.

Eyewitnesses on Tuesday described body parts strewn across the street and people evacuating the parliament building, as many rushed to leave the city. “We see a lot of broken bodies. The legs have been scattered and there is a skull that we believe to be that of the suicide bomber, ”Enanga added.

Tuesday’s attacks follow a series of explosions in October. One person was killed and at least seven others injured in an explosion at a pork restaurant on the outskirts of Kampala, and two days later an explosion on a passenger bus killed only one suicide bomber. The ADF claimed responsibility for the restaurant attack.

The deadliest attack in recent Ugandan history took place during the 2010 FIFA World Cup, when Somali Islamist group al-Shabaab – unrelated to Mozambique and mainly linked to al-Qaeda – bombed several bars in Kampala, killing more than 70 people. . Uganda is a major supplier of troops to Somalia to fight al-Shabaab.

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