Uganda: Scene of attack on secondary school in Mpondwe
Ugandan children were singing gospel songs just moments before Islamist militants launched a merciless attack on their school which left 42 people dead, it has been revealed.
The town of Mpondwe yesterday began burying the victims of the brutal attack, as security forces stepped up patrols along the country’s border with eastern Congo.
One of eight people wounded in Friday night’s attack, in which 38 students of Lhubiriha Secondary School were killed, died overnight, said Selevest Mapoze, mayor of the town of Mpondwe-Lhubiriha.
Meanwhile, speaking at the scene, Mary Masika described the mind-numbing carnage as armed men stormed the school.
Ms Masika, who lives opposite the school, said initially she could hear singing which stopped abruptly.
She told the BBC: “Then I heard screaming.” Describing the attack as lasting roughly 90 minutes, she added: “I have been unable to eat or sleep since then.”
Many were also attacked with machetes and others shot dead as they tried to run.
The boys’ dormitory was locked, either because they refused to open it or as a result of being locked inside.
The militants are believed to have then poured petrol on the building before setting fire to it. While some died in the fire, some children are believed to have been taken hostage.
In addition to the 38 students, the victims include a school guard and three civilians. At least two of them, members of the same family, were buried yesterday.
The school, which is privately owned, is just over a mile from the Congo border. Ugandan authorities think at least six students were abducted, taken as porters back inside Congo.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the attack in a statement, stressing “the importance of collective efforts, including through enhanced regional partnerships, to tackle cross-border insecurity between (Congo) and Uganda and restore durable peace in the area”.
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The attack is being blamed on the Allied Democratic Forces, or ADF, which rarely claims responsibility for attacks, but which has established ties with ISIS.
In a statement on Sunday, his first comment on the incident, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni described the attack as “criminal, desperate, terrorist and futile,” vowing to deploy more troops on the Ugandan side of the border.
The ADF has been accused of launching many attacks in recent years targeting civilians in remote parts of eastern Congo, including one in March in which 19 people were killed.
It has long opposed the rule of Museveni, a US security ally who has held power in this East African country since 1986.
The group was established in the early 1990s by some Ugandan Muslims, who said they had been sidelined by Museveni’s policies.
At the time, the rebels staged deadly attacks in Ugandan villages as well as in the capital, including a 1998 attack in which 80 students were massacred in a town not far from Friday’s raid.
The attack followed the same pattern: violence against students.
Pope Francis led prayers at the Vatican for the victims yesterday.
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