Police have arrested at least 20 people, including the headmaster and director of Lhubiriha Secondary School in Mpondwe, Kasese district, for questioning following the deadly attack on the school by suspected Allied Democratic Front (ADF) rebels on 16th June 2023 that left 42 people dead.

Police spokesperson, Fred Enanga, made the announcement during the weekly police briefing at the police headquarters in Naguru, Kampala.

The suspected ADF fighters raided the school at about midnight, set the boys' dormitory on fire leaving seventeen (17) students dead, hacked about twenty (20) girls to death, and abducted other students to carry their loot, including foodstuffs from the school stores.

As investigations continue into the attack by suspected Allied Democratic Front (ADF) rebels on Lhubirira Secondary School in Mpondwe proceed, the police have arrested 20 people including two school administrators, for questioning over the attack on the night of 16th June 2023.

Enanga noted that the group could have been assisted by some locals who helped them study the school’s geography and aid them in their evil plans targeting the school.

Enanga said of the 42 people who died in the attack, 37 were students, the school watchman, two others, and a 96-year-old peasant who was killed at a nearby village as the attackers fled the scene.

Enanga added that of the 25 charred bodies that were examined at Bwera Hospital, 23 were handed over to their immediate family members, while the other two bodies have not yet been picked.

He reassured the public of the determination of security agencies to prevent terror attacks, as the UPDF and other security teams put effort into tracking the ADF rebels.

On 18th June 2023, President Yoweri Museveni revealed that the UPDF would deploy more troops inside the DRC to fight ADF rebels. The group has been designated by the US as a terrorist outfit working together with the Islamic State in DRC as its affiliate in Central Africa.

Mary Prima Awor