Grieving families in western Uganda laid their loved ones to rest on Sunday, while others anxiously searched for missing family members following a horrific school attack. The nation mourns as officials confirm that at least 41 people, mostly students, lost their lives in what is considered the deadliest attack in Uganda since 2010.
The devastating incident occurred on Friday when militants launched a brutal assault on Lhubiriha Secondary School in Mpondwe, a town located less than two kilometers from the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The victims were subjected to unimaginable violence, as they were hacked, shot, and burned during the late-night raid.
President Yoweri Museveni, speaking out for the first time since the attack, expressed his determination to bring the perpetrators to justice. He vowed to pursue the militants, believed to be members of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a militia based in the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo, and hunt them “into extinction.” The Ugandan authorities are actively pursuing the attackers who fled back across the border, holding six individuals as abductees.
Eriphaz Muhindi, the chairman of Kasese district, which shares a lengthy and forested border with the DRC, reported that fifteen individuals from the community, including five girls, are still missing. The local authorities are tirelessly working to locate these missing individuals and provide support to their families during this agonizing time.
The ADF, classified as an Islamic terrorist organization by the United States Bureau of Counterterrorism, has a history of violence in the region. In 2018, the group established ties with the Islamic State, further raising concerns about the scale and nature of their activities.
The grieving families, desperate for any news, spent a cold night outside a mortuary in the nearby town of Bwera. As morning arrived, those who were able to identify their loved ones embraced and wept as they solemnly carried the coffins containing the remains of their family members.
Roti Masereka, a farmer who lost his brother and 17-year-old son in the attack, described the horrifying scene. He recounted how many bodies, both boys and girls, bore the marks of machete wounds and hammer strikes to their heads. Masereka’s anguish is compounded by the fact that his 15-year-old son remains missing, leaving the family in distress and uncertainty.
The nation of Uganda stands united in grief as the magnitude of this heinous act sinks in. The loss of innocent lives, particularly those of young students seeking education, has deeply impacted the community. The government and security forces have vowed to bring the assailants to justice and prevent further acts of terror.
As the country mourns, it is essential to remember the resilience and strength of the Ugandan people. Together, they will work towards healing and rebuilding, determined not to let fear and violence define their future.
“Today we have buried two bodies, the father and his son. But we are still looking for the missing child,” he said.
The government said Sunday it would assist with funeral arrangements and support the injured.
Seventeen victims were burned beyond recognition when the attackers set a dormitory ablaze, frustrating efforts to identify the dead and account for the missing.
Muhindi said they had been taken away for DNA testing, a process that could take some time.
“This is a great pain to their families,” he told AFP.
‘They wore military camouflage’
Officials said 37 students were killed – 17 in the torched men’s dormitory, and 20 female students who ran but were hacked to death.
Elias Kule, an 18-year-old survivor, said the boys locked their dormitory door when they heard gunshots and saw armed men entering the school.
“They wore military camouflage. Each had a hammer, a hoe, knives, pangas (machetes) and guns with magazines,” he told AFP.
He said the attackers started firing through the windows and doors, hitting at least one student, before lobbing a “bomb” into the dormitory that started a fire.
“I ran out of oxygen, I covered my mouth and nose with a cloth…I got blood and smeared myself on the head and ears to claim I was dead,” he said, waiting until the coast was clear to escape.
Four non-students, including the security guard Kirurihandi, were also killed.
‘Appalling act’
Friday’s incident has horrified the international community. The African Union, France and the United States offered their condolences and condemned the bloodshed.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said: “Those responsible for this appalling act must be brought to justice.”
Questions have been raised about how the attackers managed to evade detection in a border region with a heavy military presence.
Major General Dick Olum told AFP that intelligence suggested the presence of the ADF in the area at least two days before the attack, and an investigation would be needed to establish what went wrong.
Uganda and the DRC launched a joint offensive in 2021 to drive the ADF out of their Congolese strongholds, but the measures have failed to blunt the group’s violence.
Originally insurgents in Uganda, the ADF gained a foothold in eastern DRC in the 1990s and have since been accused of killing thousands of civilians.
Attacks in Uganda are rare but in June 1998, 80 students were burnt to death in their dormitories in an ADF raid on Kichwamba Technical Institute near the DRC border.
More than 100 students were abducted.
The attack was the deadliest in Uganda since 2010 when 76 people were killed in twin bombings in Kampala by the Somalia-based group Al-Shabaab.
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