Uganda’s Assistant Inspector General of police Edward Ochom said this was an attack but who is responsible is a matter that is under investigation. The explosion near the police station shattered windows while the one near the entrance to parliament saw cars parked nearby burst into flames .So far, 27 people, all adults, had been admitted following the explosions.
The twin attacks follow two blasts last month — a bus explosion near Kampala that wounded many people and a bombing at a roadside eatery in the capital that killed one woman.
Police said last month both those attacks were connected and were carried out by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an armed group active in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo that the US has linked to the Islamic State group.
Uganda has also blamed the group for a foiled bomb attack in August on the funeral of army commander Major General Paul Lokech, nicknamed the “Lion of Mogadishu” after leading a major offensive against Al-Shabaab militants in Somalia.
Parliament cancelled its Tuesday session following the attacks, asking members to avoid the area “as security forces are working hard to restore order”. The premises were put under tight security, with heavily armed soldiers securing the area as forensics officers in white overalls inspected the blast site for clues. The US embassy in Kampala warned its citizens to steer clear of the area and monitor local news.
Ugandan police last month arrested a number of ADF operatives and warned that extremists were believed to be plotting a new attack on “major installations”.
The ADF, historically a Ugandan rebel group, has been accused of killing thousands of civilians in eastern DRC. In April 2019, IS began to claim some ADF attacks on social media, presenting the group as its regional branch — the Islamic State Central Africa Province, or ISCAP.
In March this year the United States officially linked the ADF to IS. The ADF is considered by experts to be the bloodiest of more than 120 armed groups that roam eastern DRC, many of them a legacy of two regional wars a quarter-century ago.
Edited by : Chepkosgei Jedidah