The Defence ministry spokesperson Felix Kulaigye says the attack happened at 11:30pm on Friday night at Lhubirira Secondary School in Mpondwe town council
Kulayige added that UPDF are pursuing the enemy to rescue those abducted and destroy this group”.
Kulaigye says that President Yoweri Museveni has dispatched education ministry officials to commiserate with the school.
According to Kulaigye, the Chief of Defence Forces and and Commander Land Forces are “joining the Division Commander on the ground for spot assessment”.
According to reports,22 students were directly hacked by rebels, 17 Students killed by bomb, 2 residents and one security guard.
Authorities are yet to establish the actual number of those abducted by the rebels.
Kasese Resident District Commissioner (RDC) Lt Joe Walusimbi said there were 62 students in the dormitories at the time of the attack.
The school director’s wife, Brenda Masika, says she survived being killed by the rebels because she was breastfeeding.
In her account, when the rebels entered her house, which is also within the school compound, they were forced to shoot the lock of the bedroom door.
The rebels found Masika breastfeeding her baby in an attempt to muffle its cries so that they would hopefully leave the area without raiding her bedroom.
On seeing her breastfeeding, the rebels told her that their beliefs discourage them from killing breastfeeding women.
Instead, the rebels chased her and her children from the house and set it ablaze.
The rebels made off with three sacks of posho and two of beans from Masika’s store.
Major General Dick Olum, the overall commander of Operation Shujja in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) says ADF rebels have resorted to soft targets (schools and civilians) as a way of hurting the Government of Uganda after failing to successfully attack the UPDF in eastern DR Congo.
Operation Shujaa, the joint Uganda and Congolese assault against ADF in the eastern DRC.
According to Olum, the ADF attacked civilians in a town called Kasinde in DRC last week. The attack resulted in a refugee influx into Uganda.
However, the land forces and intelligence, Olum says, are doing all they can to at leat recover the abducted students and maybe get the ADF and do the necessary action on them.
Olum has, therefore, called for calm among the residents now that they are doing all they can to ensure that there is security on the border.
Earlier Police said the attack orchestrated by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels on Friday night, also saw a dormitory burnt and food store looted.
Lhubirira Secondary School is located about 2kms, from the Uganda-DRC border.
Police spokesperson Fred Enanga said in a statement on Saturday morning said the discovered bodies have been recovered from the school and transferred to Bwera Hospital and 8 victims, remain in critical condition at Bwera Hospital.
According to Enanga, a hot pursuit by the Uganda People’s Defence Forces and the Police is ongoing, towards Virunga National Park.
Previous ADF attacks
December 12, 2022:
Several ADF rebels sneaked into Uganda suspected to be 40 in number, crossed from DRC to Uganda in Ntoroko district via River Semuliki but were repulsed by the Uganda People’s Defence Forces.
The ADF rebels were first spotted by the civilian population in Bweramule sub-county.
These immediately shared information with security, which prompted UPDF to respond swiftly, killed 17 rebels and captured 13 of them.
April 7, 2023:
ADF rebels killed 20 people in Easter DRC near the village of Enebula.
January 15, 2023:
A bomb killed at least 10 people and wounded 39 others after ripping through a church in eastern DR Congo, in an attack blamed on ADF.
June 8, 1998:
ADF rebels had raided Kichwamba Technical Institute in Kabarole, burning 80 students to death and abducting more than 100.
ADF rebels gained a foothold in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in the 1990s after they were chased from Uganda.
The rebels have since been accused of killing thousands of civilians, becoming the deadliest of scores of outlawed forces in the deeply troubled region.
In 2021, the United States labelled the ADF a “foreign terrorist organisation” with links to the Islamic State group. The militia is active mainly in North Kivu and neighbouring Ituri province.
In November 2021 after a spate of bombings in Kampala, UPDF in collaboration with DRC’s army deployed in north Kivu under operation Shujja in pursuit of the militants.
