At least 41 killed in rebel attack on Ugandan school near Congo border

Congolese Defense Forces soldiers remove the bodies of victims of an attack near the town of Oicha in 2021. Photo / AP

Ugandan authorities recovered the bodies of 41 people, including 38 students, who were burned, shot or hacked to death after suspected rebels attacked a secondary school near the border with Congo, the local mayor said Saturday.

At least six people were abducted by the rebels, who fled across the porous border into Congo after the raid on Friday night, according to the Ugandan military.

Police say the rebels from the Allied Democratic Forces, who have been launching attacks for years from their bases in volatile eastern Congo, carried out the raid late Friday on Lhubiriha Secondary School in the border town of Mpondwe.

Mayor Selevest Mapoze says those killed include 38 students, one guard and two members of the local community who were shot outside the school.

Lhubiriha Secondary School, which is privately owned, is located about 2km from the Congo border.

“A dormitory was burnt and a food store looted,” a statement said.

The statement said Ugandan troops tracked the attackers into Congolese territory.

The local Daily Monitor newspaper, citing unnamed security sources, reported that the attackers “abducted several” others before fleeing.

Winnie Kiiza, an influential political leader and a former lawmaker from the region, condemned the “cowardly attack” on Twitter. She said, “attacks on schools are unacceptable and are a grave violation of children’s rights,” adding that schools should always be “a safe place” for every student.”

The Allied Democratic Forces, or ADF, is accused of launching many attacks on civilians in recent years, notably on civilian communities in remote parts of eastern Congo.

The ADF has long opposed the rule of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, a US security ally who has been in power since 1986.

Established in the early 1990s in Uganda, the ADF later was forced to flee into eastern Congo, where many rebel groups are able to operate because Congo’s central government has limited control there.

Democratic Republic of Congo Defence Forces gather in the North Kivu province village on Thursday March 9, 2023 where at least 36 were killed. Photo / AP

The ADF has ties with the Islamic State group.

In March, at least 19 people were killed in Congo by suspected ADF militants.

Ugandan authorities for years have vowed to track down ADF militants “at home and abroad.”

In 2021, Uganda launched joint air and artillery strikes in Congo against ADF rebels — against the ADF.