Police raids Kibuli’s Al-Qaeda ghetto youth

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Police together with other security forces have razed to the ground temporary houses and offices of a gang in Kibuli who call themselves Al-Qaeda. The group are reported to have killed one of their members recently and have been terrorizing residents.

The group, based in Nakibinge zone, Makindye East, in Kampala and named after pan-Islamist terrorist group Al-Qaeda, is one of 30 that previously benefitted from President Yoweri Museveni’s donation to ghetto youth. This Kibuli gang reportedly received sh100million.

Residents told URN that the group has been terrorizing them. They accused Al-Qaeda of defiling teenagers and raping women but said their outcries had not got any response from police at Nsambya and Kabalagala.

The latest incident, they revealed, involved the reported murder of Al-Qaeda member Muhammad Hakyare at the weekend.

Police have now demolished makeshifts of the Kibuli Al-Qaeda group five days after they killed their colleague Hakyare.  Residents say that Hakyare was murdered when he tried to save a student who was being forced to join the gang.

“After they killed their colleague, we resolved to destroy their base which had also become a deadly criminal hub. We have realized several people have fallen victim to their acts. They claimed they were put there by a military officer who denied their claims,” a senior police officer said.

Eyewitnesses say Hakyare saw his colleagues pounce on a student and he decided to save him as he warned colleagues that it wasn’t necessary to attack someone who did not want to be part of them.

Rehema Nansubuga a resident said when Hakyare saved the student, his colleagues hit him with a paver on the head, and he died on the spot.

After this, angry locals burnt the main office of the Al-Qaeda group which was reportedly being used to coordinate economic activities for members, after they received sh100 million from the President last year.

Groups that benefited from Museveni’s money in 2023 were coordinated by Brig Gen Chris Damulira, the Director of Crime Intelligence in the Uganda Police Force.

Azam Kushemererwa and Nansubuga all Nakibinge zone residents said the Al-Qaeda group often told them that they had nowhere to report them to, because they claimed they were connected to powerful security officials.

“We tried to report their acts to Kabalagla and Nsambya police stations but we were not helped. Unfortunately, they have killed this young man. We believe if police had acted on our numerous complaints, all this wouldn’t have happened,” Kushemererwa said.

The Al-Qaeda youth were based in the wetland behind Nsambya police barracks where they had erected structures which acted as homesteads, but were also transactional offices. All their makeshifts have now been razed down by security forces.

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