Uganda buries victims of school attack

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — A troubled Ugandan border town began burying victims Sunday of a brutal attack on a school by suspected extremist rebels that killed 42 people, most of them students, as security forces tightened security. surveillance along the border with the volatile eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

One of eight people injured in Friday night’s attack, which killed 38 students, died overnight, said Selevest Mapoze, mayor of the city of Mpondwe-Lhubiriha.

“Most of the relatives have come to collect their bodies” from the morgue, he said.

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 on Sunday.

Some students were burned beyond recognition; others were shot or hacked to death after militants armed with guns and machetes attacked the privately-owned, coeducational Lhubiriha Secondary School, located about 2 kilometers (just over a mile) from the Congolese border. The Ugandan authorities believe that at least six students were kidnapped and taken as porters into the Congo.

UN Secretary General António Guterres condemned the attack in a statement, urging “the importance of collective efforts, including through strengthened regional partnerships, to address cross-border insecurity between (Congo) and Uganda and restore lasting peace in the region”.

The atmosphere in Mpondwe-Lhubiriha was tense but calm on Sunday as Ugandan security forces patrolled the streets outside and near the school, which was protected by a police cordon.

The attack is attributed to the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), which rarely claims responsibility for attacks. It has established links with the Islamic State group.

In a statement on Sunday, his first comment on the incident, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni called the attack “criminal, desperate, terrorist and futile” and vowed to deploy more soldiers to the Ugandan side of the border.