Suspected Rebels Attack Ugandan School, Killing 38 Students
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Ugandan authorities have recovered the bodies of 41 people, including 38 students, who were burned, shot, or hacked to death in an attack by suspected rebels on a secondary school near the border with Congo, according to the local mayor on Saturday.
The rebels, believed to be from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a shadowy extremist group linked to Daesh (ISIS or ISIL), abducted at least six individuals before escaping into Congo after the Friday night raid, as reported by the Ugandan military.
The massacre at Lhubiriha Secondary School in the border town of Mpondwe is attributed to the ADF, which has been launching attacks from bases in volatile eastern Congo for years.
The victims include the students, a guard, and two members of the local community who were killed outside the school, Mpondwe-Lhubiriha Mayor Selevest Mapoze told AP.
According to Mapoze, some students suffered fatal burns when the rebels set fire to a dormitory, while others were shot or hacked with machetes.
The attack occurred around 11:30 p.m. and involved approximately five assailants, as confirmed by the Ugandan military. Responding soldiers from a nearby brigade found the school ablaze, "with dead bodies of students lying in the compound," said military spokesman Brig. Felix Kulayigye in a statement.
The statement reported 47 bodies, with eight others wounded and receiving treatment at a local hospital. Ugandan troops are pursuing the perpetrators to rescue the abducted students who were forced to transport looted food toward Congo's Virunga National Park.
The privately owned co-ed school is situated in the Ugandan district of Kasese, about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the Congo border.
Joe Walusimbi, an official representing Uganda's president in Kasese, conveyed that some victims "were burnt beyond recognition."
Winnie Kiiza, a prominent political leader and former lawmaker from the region, denounced the "cowardly attack" on Twitter, emphasizing that assaults on schools are unacceptable and a grave violation of children's rights. She added that schools should always be a safe place for every student.
The ADF has been implicated in numerous attacks in recent years targeting civilians in remote parts of eastern Congo, often refraining from claiming responsibility.
Originating in the early 1990s, the ADF was established by Ugandans who felt marginalized by President Yoweri Museveni's policies. The group launched deadly attacks in Ugandan villages and the capital, including a 1998 massacre in which 80 students were killed in a nearby town. A subsequent Ugandan military operation pushed the ADF into eastern Congo, where rebel groups thrive due to limited government control.
Over time, the ADF has formed alliances with the Daesh terror group.
In March, suspected ADF extremists killed at least 19 people in Congo.
Ugandan authorities have vowed to pursue ADF militants even beyond Ugandan territory, launching joint air and artillery strikes against the group in Congo in 2021.
