KAMPALA, Uganda: The death toll from the attack on a school in western Uganda by jihadists linked to the Islamic State group has risen to 37, the country’s army said Saturday.
“Unfortunately, 37 bodies have been discovered and conveyed to Bwera hospital mortuary,” Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces spokesman Felix Kulayigye said in a statement, referring to a town near where the attack occurred.
Earlier reports said militants linked to Daesh killed at least 25 people in the attack on a secondary school in Mpondwe in western Uganda near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, citing local police.
The police, however, did not say how many of the dead were school children. Members of a Ugandan group based in eastern Congo, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) that has pledged allegiance to Daesh, attacked Lhubirira secondary school in Mpondwe, burning a dormitory and looting food late on Friday, police said.
An earlier statement by Ugandan police said, “So far 25 bodies have been recovered from the school and transferred to Bwera Hospital. Also recovered are eight victims, who remain in critical condition at Bwera Hospital”.
The security forces were chasing the attackers who fled toward Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, police said further.
In April, the Allied Democratic Forces attacked a village in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, killing at least 20 people. Uganda has sent troops into Congo to help fight the ADF. —AFP
