When army forces arrived on the scene at Lhubiriha Secondary College, “the college was discovered burning with lifeless our bodies of scholars mendacity within the compound,” Kulayige, a brigadier normal, stated in an announcement.
The native mayor, Selevest Mapoze, gave an much more grim account to the Related Press, saying 41 folks, together with 38 college students, had been killed. Among the victims suffered deadly burns in a dormitory that the attackers set on hearth, Mapoze stated, and others had been shot or hacked to demise with machetes.
In line with Kulayige, the suspected attackers had been rebels from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an extremist group that has ties to the Islamic State and operates in Uganda and throughout the border in Congo. He stated Ugandan forces had been “pursuing the enemy to rescue these kidnapped and destroy” the group.
Police spokesman Fred Enanga additionally stated in an announcement that regulation enforcement had joined the army in “scorching pursuit” of the rebels towards Virunga Nationwide Park in Congo.
The ADF was based by Ugandan exiles in Congo in 1995 with the intention of toppling Uganda’s authorities. The United Nations stated in 2020 that the group could have dedicated crimes towards humanity and warfare crimes, together with abductions, civilian killings and the usage of youngsters as troopers.
The group established ties with the Islamic State group in 2018 and has carried out quite a few assaults towards civilians, armed forces and U.N. peacekeepers inside Congo, in accordance with the U.S. State Division, which designated the ADF an Islamic State affiliate in addition to a international terrorist group in 2021.
