TWENTY-five students have died in an overnight “terrorist attack” on a school in western Uganda by the Islamic State-aligned Allied Democratic Forces militia, the national police spokesman said Saturday.
Fred Enanga said the ADF, which is based in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, attacked a secondary school in Mpondwe late Friday where “a dormitory was burnt and food store looted”.
“So far 25 bodies have been recovered from the school and transferred to Bwera Hospital”, he said, referring to a nearby town close to the DR Congo border.
Boys and girls were among the dead, he added.
“Also recovered are eight victims, who remain in critical condition at Bwera hospital,” he said.
The resident commissioner for Kasese district, Joe Walusimbi, told AFP that all 25 of the deceased were students.
“All of the dead so far are confirmed to be students at the school,” said the government official in charge of the district where the school — less than two kilometres from the Democratic Republic of Congo — is located.
Enanga said the army and police units were in “hot pursuit” of the attackers who fled in the direction of Virunga National Park over the border in DR Congo.
