About 25 students have been killed in Uganda and many others abducted, in a deadly attack attributed to Allied Democratic Forces (ADF). The rebel group attacked a privately owned school at Mpondwe in Kasese district in western Uganda.
Police confirmed the Lhubiriha Secondary School deadly assault that took place around mid-night. The police also said, it fears the casualties could be high as the rebel forces continue to wreak havoc in the town.
“Last night, we registered a terrorist attack by the ADF rebels, on Lhubiriha secondary school, in Mpondwe, that is located about 2kms, from the DRC border. A dormitory was burnt and a food store looted. So far 25 bodies have been recovered from the school and transferred to Bwera Hospital. Also, recovered are 8 victims, who remain in critical condition at Bwera Hospital. A hot pursuit by the UPDF and the police is ongoing, towards Virunga national park.”
Uganda Police Spokesman, Fred Enang.
These atrocities happened in a time that the Congolese and the Ugandan military, have been carrying out offensive operations against the rebel group, who has pledged their allegiance to the Islamic State terrorist group.
The Ugandan and the Congolese army launched an operation against the group, two years ago, but in over a year time, the effectiveness of the operation remains uncertain. Early on, security official in the area, cautioned the neighborhood of a possible terror attack in that area.
The attack adds to several many others, perpetrated by the ADF rebel group. The rebel group assaulted Kichwamba Technical Institute and killed 80 students, injured several others, and abducted others in 1998.
In Rwenzori, an alert has been issued after the Congolese based ADF rebels renewed their attacks near the Ugandan borders. The group attacked the Domena village in Kasindi, which is a few kilometers away from the Mpondwe border town.
About a 133 Congolese women and children were force to evacuate to Uganda, and camped in a catholic church. However, many of them returned to Congo after the situation normalized, whiles other stayed with their families on the Ugandan side of the border.
The Allied Democratic Force are said to have rekindled attacks in communities, that were secured and pacified by the Joint military operations by the Congolese army and the Ugandan People’s Defense Forces, in an operation code-named Operation Shunjaa.
The Allied Democratic Force
The ADF has been known to be one of the deadliest rebel group in eastern DRC. The ADF was created by the amalgamation of many rebel factions, including the Allied Democratic Movement, the National Army for the Liberation of Uganda (NALU), the Uganda Muslim Liberation Army, and militant members of the Tablighi Jamaat movement.
Jamil Mukulu, a former Catholic who converted to Islam, was the faction’s leading character, until his arrest in 2015. Their militants are mostly from central Uganda, including Iganga, Masaka, and Kampala, and they describe themselves as religious crusaders.
Aside from their loosely expressed theological philosophy, and assertions that the administration discriminates against Tablighis, the ADF hasn’t provided any cogent justifications for their terrorism.
Furthermore, the ADF purportedly chose western Uganda for three reasons; terrain suitable for a rural insurgency, closeness to the DRC, where the rebels could build up camps and recruit combatants, and the existence of some Ugandan ethnic groups, who resent the Museveni administration.
Beginning in 2017, ADF members began to establish ties with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Musa Baluku, the current leader of ADF, pledged allegiance to ISIL in an ISIL propaganda video released in June 2019.
