Uganda says Islamic State-allied rebels kill three in village attack

By REUTERS

DECEMBER 26, 2023 18:26

Ugandan security forces cordon the scene outside the Mpondwe Lhubirira Secondary School, after militants linked to rebel group Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) killed and abducted multiple people, in Mpondwe, western Uganda, June 17, 2023 (photo credit: REUTERS) — Ugandan security forces cordon the scene outside the Mpondwe Lhubirira Secondary School, after militants linked to rebel group Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) killed and abducted multiple people, in Mpondwe, western Uganda, June 17, 2023

(photo credit: REUTERS)

The ADF was originally an anti-Kampala rebel group that fought the government of President Yoweri Museveni from its bases in the Rwenzori mountains.

Militants from an Islamic State-allied rebel group killed three people in an attack on a village in western Uganda, a military spokesman said on Tuesday.

The assailants from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) attacked the village in Kamwenge district late on Monday, killing a 75-year-old woman and her two grandchildren before burning the bodies, Felix Kulayigye, the military spokesman said in an audio statement sent to journalists.

The ADF was originally an anti-Kampala rebel group that fought the government of President Yoweri Museveni from its bases in the Rwenzori mountains.

After it was routed by the military in the late 1990s, the remnants fled across the border into the jungles of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo where they established new bases.

From there they have continued to carry out attacks both in Uganda and Congo against military and civilian targets, including one in June that left dozens of students dead and another that killed a tourist couple and their guide in October.

Ugandan police officers gather near a scene with an explosive device outside a Pentecostal church, Lubaga Miracle Centre, in the Lubaga suburb of south Kampala, Uganda September 3, 2023. (credit: REUTERS/ABUBAKER LUBOWA)

Fears attacks could scare away tourists

Kulayigye said the Ugandan military would hunt down those responsible for the latest killings.

In 2019, the ADF pledged allegiance to Islamic State, which has since claimed responsibility for some of the ADF's attacks.

The area in Uganda where the ADF has recently killed people has two large national parks, and there are fears their assaults could scare away tourists, harming a key economic sector.