Komamboga bomb was locally improvised, says Police

KAMPALA, UGANDA: The Uganda Police Force has revealed that the bomb that claimed the life of one person in Komamboga on Saturday night was locally improvised and therefore it is was a case of domestic terrorism.

The said explosion occurred at around 9:00 pm at Digida pork joint in Komamboga suburb, Kawempe division in Kampala district.

Addressing journalists at the police headquarters in Kampala, police spokesperson Fred Enanga noted that they have obtained information to the effect that the attackers were three men in number. He said the trio reportedly approached the eating point like other customers, greeted some of the people around before buying them rounds of eats and drinks.

But shortly, Enanga said that the attackers moved outside, leaving their polythene bag behind, later returned to monitor, and it was a few minutes that their crude devices made of nails and other metallic pieces exploded at the eating point owned by Samuel Lule.

According to Enanga, as a result three people, Rose Nakitto, Annet Kiconco and Peter Ssengozi, were critically injured and one of the waitresses identified as Emily Nyineneza, aged 20 years succumbed to the injuries.

Police indicates further that the victims of the bombing were evacuated to the nearest medical centers at St. Ann’s Medical Centre, St. Stevens and also at Doctors Plaza. Police says one gentleman David Kaweesi, used his car to transport one of the victims to the clinic, but unfortunately Nyineneza couldn’t survive.

Police now says that their joint task teams comprising of experts from the bomb squad, Joint Anti-Terrorism Task Force-JATT, Counter Terrorism Police, Criminal Investigations Department officers and those from the Field Force Unit are at the scene trying to establish the motive of the attack which occurred in a radius of five square meters.

Police has appealed to all members of the public to remain extra vigilant and always pay attention to all forms of movements and suspicious behaviors within their surroundings saying; in this very incident, there was low level of alertness, no security check ups and total disregard of curfew regulations at the eating joint.

Police has also warned social media users especially politicians to stop blame games of pointing fingers at police saying it’s not useful at this time.

On October 14, 2021, the United Kingdom and France warned of a possible terror attack in Uganda. However, police reportedly said that there was no need to elevate the threat levels, an issue that has caused criticism on social media.

But to police, the advisories by UK were not discriminate in nature and required specific details which were not availed. Enanga also added however that if they were to go by detail, Komamboga was not one of those places that were mentioned in the advisory.

Yesterday, the President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni described the attack at Komamboga as a terrorism act, saying that Ugandans should not fear because security is committed to fight any form of criminality in the country.

Uganda last suffered a major terror attack on July 11, 2010, after a militant Islamist group, Al-Shabab, killed 76  people in a Kampala twin-bombings as hundreds watched a football World Cup final match.

But in the aftermath, 14 people were arrested and of these, nine were found guilty and sentenced to a punishment ranging between 35 years to 50 years in jail, while others were given life imprisonment by the then High Court Judge Alfonse Owiny-Dollo in 2016.