25 killed in attack on school in western Uganda

Twenty-five people have died in a "terrorist attack" on a school in western Uganda by fighters from the Islamic State-aligned Allied Democratic Forces militia, the national police spokesman said Saturday.

"So far 25 bodies have been recovered from the school and transferred to Bwera Hospital", Fred Enanga said of the overnight attack that occurred near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Enanga said the ADF, which is based in eastern DR Congo, attacked a secondary school near Bwera where "a dormitory was burnt and food store looted".

"Also recovered are eight victims, who remain in critical condition at Bwera hospital," he said.

The army and police units were pursuing the attackers in the direction of Virunga National Park, which lies over the border in DR Congo where the ADF is based.

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.

Since 2019, some ADF attacks in eastern DRC have been claimed by the Islamic State group, which describes the fighters as a local offshoot, the Islamic State Central Africa Province.

/KN/