Uganda Police Arrest Suspected Collaborators in School Massacre

Ugandan authorities reported on Monday the arrest of 20 people suspected of collaborating in last week’s massacre in western Uganda by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a rebel group linked to the Islamic State.

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Police spokesman Fred Enanga said “twenty arrests have been made of suspected ADF collaborators” in Friday’s attack at Mpondwe-Lhubiriha Secondary School in Kasese district. A total of 42 people, including 37 students, were killed.

Among those arrested are the head teacher and headmaster of the school. “They have to give us answers to certain questions,” said the police spokesman.

The attack took place at around 11:30 p.m. Friday, when a group of Islamic State-linked rebel fighters stormed the secondary school in Mpondwe, a town on Uganda’s border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. Stabbings, shootings, and arson were reported. 

According to police, seventeen male bodies recovered from among the murdered students were burned beyond recognition, and DNA tests have been used for identification. Police added that among the victims was a 12-year-old girl in her first year of secondary school.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has described the mass murder as “criminal, desperate, terroristic, and useless.” The president announced in a statement on Sunday the deployment of additional troops to the border region.

Kasese district police chief Joe Walusimbi said the assailants reportedly fled to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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