Global Courant
KAMPALA, Uganda — Ugandan police said at least 25 people were killed in a suspected rebel attack on a school near the Congolese border.
A government official said others were also kidnapped.
In a statement on Saturday, police authorities said Allied Democratic Forces carried out the attack on a school in the border town of Mpondwe late Friday evening.
Lhubiriha Secondary School, which is privately owned, is located in the Ugandan district of Kasese, about 2 kilometers from the Congo border.
“A dormitory has been set on fire and a grocery store looted. So far, 25 bodies have been recovered from the school and transferred to Bwera Hospital,” the statement said, adding that eight others are in critical condition.
It was not immediately clear whether all the victims were students.
The statement said Ugandan troops followed the attackers “as far as Congo’s Virunga National Park”.
Joe Walusimbi, an official representing the Ugandan president in Kasese, told The Associated Press over the phone that authorities were trying to verify the number of victims and abductees.
“Some bodies were burned beyond recognition,” he said.
Winnie Kiiza, an influential political leader and former legislator from the region, condemned the “cowardly attack” on Twitter. She said: “Attacks against schools are unacceptable and a serious violation of children’s rights”, adding that schools should always be “a safe place for every student”.
The Allied Democratic Forces, or ADF, has been accused of carrying out many attacks against civilians in recent years, particularly against civilian communities in remote parts of eastern Congo.
The ADF has long opposed the rule of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, a US security ally who has been in power since 1986.
Established in Uganda in the early 1990s, the ADF was later forced to flee to eastern Congo, where many rebel groups can operate due to the country’s limited control over the area.
The group also has ties to the Islamic State terrorist group.
At least 19 people were killed in Congo in March by suspected ADF extremists.
Ugandan authorities have vowed for years to hunt down ADF militants “at home and abroad”. In 2021, Uganda launched joint air and artillery strikes in Congo against the group.
