Death toll from militant attack on school in Uganda hits 37
Jun 17, 2023Militants linked to the Islamic State group hacked and burned 37 students to death in western Uganda in the country's worst such attack in over a decade, army and police officials said Saturday.
The army said it was pursuing militants from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) after the cross-border raid late Friday on a secondary school in Mpondwe in Kasese district near the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Investigators said dormitories were set alight and students cut down with knives in a brutal late-night assault by ADF, which is one of the deadliest groups active in DR Congo's strife-torn east.
"Unfortunately, 37 bodies have been discovered and conveyed to Bwera hospital mortuary," Uganda Peoples' Defence Forces (UPDF) spokesman Felix Kulayigye said in a statement, referring to a town near where the attack occurred.
Eight people were injured while six others were kidnapped and taken by the attackers toward Virunga National Park, which straddles the DR Congo border, he added.
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