LAHORE MIRROR (Monitoring Desk) — The military said it was pursuing the attackers from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), who also abducted six people during a raid on a school late Friday before fleeing back towards the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Officials and witnesses said guns and knives were used in a grisly late-night assault and dormitories set ablaze at Lhubiriha Secondary School in Mpondwe.
Police and army officials blamed the ADF, one of the deadliest militias over the border in DR Congo’s strife-torn east, which the Islamic State group has called its local offshoot.
Sylvester Mapozi, the town council mayor of Mpondwe-Lhubiriha where the attack occurred, said 39 students were killed at the school.
“Within the community, as they (attackers) were going back, they also murdered two people, a female and a male. This is bringing up the number to 41,” he said.
Many of the deceased were burned beyond recognition while other students were still unaccounted for, he said.
Mumbere Edgar Dido, 16, said the attackers arrived at his dormitory carrying machetes and guns and opened fire from outside, sending everyone diving under their beds.
“They continued to shoot through the windows, then set fire to our room while we were inside, before going to the girls’ dormitory,” he said.
‘Appalling’
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “strongly condemns” the attack, and sent his “heartfelt condolences” to the families of the victims, his spokesman said Saturday.
“Those responsible for this appalling act must be brought to justice,” Guterres’ spokesman Farhan Haq said in a statement.
“Appalled by the attack at a secondary school in Western Uganda,” wrote Molly Phee, the US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, on Twitter.
“We send our condolences to the affected families and condemn the attack on schoolchildren.”
France also condemned the deadly attack “in the strongest possible terms,” a foreign ministry spokeswoman in Paris said Saturday.
Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF) spokesman Felix Kulayigye said the six kidnapped were taken towards Virunga National Park, a vast expanse which straddles the border.
“UPDF embarked on pursuing the perpetrators to rescue the abducted students.” Police have not released details about the victims’ ages or how many were students.
Outside the school, heavily armed soldiers and police stood guard, as a large crowd gathered and distraught survivors were comforted by loved ones.
It is the deadliest attack in Uganda since twin bombings in Kampala in 2010 killed 76 in a strike claimed by the Somalia-based Al-Shabaab group.
SOURCE: AFP
