UPDF steps up security at DRC border after attack by suspected ADF rebels

Kasese, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT |  The Uganda People’s Defence Forces-UPDF has intensified its operations along the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo in Kasese in the hunt for suspected Allied Democratic Forces-ADF rebels who killed three people on Tuesday.

The attack happened at about 6:40 p.m. near Lake Nyamununka along the Kasese-Katwe road, when attackers torched a vehicle belonging to Gorilla and Wildlife Safaris, just outside Queen Elizabeth National Park. The deceased include tourists from the UK and South Africa and their Ugandan guide.

Army spokesperson Brig Felix Kulayigye says that a joint team of UPDF, Uganda Police Force and Uganda Wildlife Authority personnel have been deployed to track down the attackers. He noted that these isolated cases are used by ADF as a tactic to divert the UPDF who are pursuing them in DRC.

Kulayigye assured the tourists that Uganda remains safe adding that by the end of the day, the suspects will have been targeted.

Earlier, Police Spokesperson Fred Enanga said in a statement that ADF extremists in the east of the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo had carried out the “cowardly terrorist attack”. He said the security forces “responded immediately upon receiving the information and are aggressively pursuing the suspected rebels”

The attack follows a series of incidents in which, suspected rebels of the Allied Democratic Forces have attacked and killed people.

On Friday last week, suspected ADF rebels ambushed a truck killing two of its occupants before setting it a blaze. The attack in Katholhu village along the Kasese-Mpondwe border highway happened barely a kilometre away from Rusese barracks.

In June, suspected ADF rebels attacked Mpondwe-Lhubiriha Secondary School resulting in the loss of at least 43 lives, including 37 students.

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