Police recover suspected explosive device in Nateete

KAMPALA, UG: Police in Kampala Monday morning sealed off Mabiito Business Centre in Nateete – Rubaga Division after a suspected improvised explosive device was discovered from the premises of the building.

Eyewitnesses on the ground told this website that a deployment of both police and UPDF personnel was heavy at the building as business has come to a standstill, with traders asked to vacate for a meanwhile.

The deployment of security forces led to the arrest of one suspect after he was found with a bag containing a passport and yellow fever card not matching with his identity, and he is currently undergoing interrogations by security operatives at the scene.

The bomb scare comes just a week after a series of intensified buzz in intelligence feeds that a terror attack in Uganda was imminent, prompting officials to place frontline personnel on high alert.

Yesterday (Sunday, September 3), security forces foiled a terror attack after intercepting a suspected bomber outside Rubaga Miracle Centre Church, a Kampala-based church run by a prominent man of God, Pastor Robert Kayanja.

The Man of God speaking of the incident via his account X, formerly known as Twitter, praised God and security services for saving his church from the bomb attack.

“We thank God … we thank our security agencies … because they put up a resistance so that these terrorists would not walk to harm the church [goers],” Pastor Kayanja posted on the social media platform.

“The bomb is very dangerous and they [suspected attackers] would have done a lot of harm,” he added.

Mr Patrick Onyango, the spokesperson of the Kampala Metropolitan Police yesterday identified the suspected bomber as Ibrahim Kintu, a resident of Wakaligga in Nateete Division, a few kilometres away from Mabiito Business Centre, where Monday’s incident was recorded.

This website exclusively learnt that upon being arrested, Kintu was interrogated for about three hours by personnel from the Joint Anti-Terrorism Taskforce, police and other security organs.

During the interrogation, Kintu reportedly told the security agencies of three more terrorists who were on the loose but that he had rented a house where bomb-making materials were stored.

“Kintu led us to his rented (Mzigo) house in Wakaligga, Nateete where we indeed found the materials used to make Improvised Explosive Devices,” an exclusive source inside security told DailyExpress on condition of anonymity to this report.

The source further adds that, as of now, Kintu is being held at a highly-guarded security facility in Kampala to help counter-terrorism forces in their investigations.

“The suspect is [in] our custody, We have interrogated him and he told us that they were sent four of them (sic) to execute missions in different places,” adds the source.

Previously incidents of successful and foiled bomb attacks have been heavily linked to the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), who are currently pitched in Eastern DR Congo.