Uganda: 2 killed, 36 arrested in mosque raid

By Halima Athumani

KAMPALA, Uganda

Uganda security forces said they have killed two people and arrested 36 others following a raid in a mosque in a Kampala suburb.

Addressing reporters Saturday afternoon, Ugandan counterterrorism police director Abas Byakagaba explained they were following what they described as a key suspect, who went into Usafi Mosque in Kisenyi.

“By that time we were only following up that suspect. In the process we found that there were children who we believe were kidnapped.”

In total, 18 women and 94 children of various nationalities were found in the mosque for reasons still unclear, according to police.

Byakagaba said that people in the mosque who were not being followed engaged the police.

“That engagement caused the death of the two people and an injury to one of our own,” he said.

Among those arrested was the suspect police were initially following.

Police has been investigating the murder of Susan Magara who was kidnapped early February.

In a statement to the media, Internal Affairs Minister Gen. Jeje Odongo said: “Following credible intelligence, one of the key suspects in the murder of Magara ran into Usafi mosque in Kisenyi having known that he was being tracked by security agencies.”

Odongo said the mosque has been shut down and will be put under strict monitoring.

“It is sad that this had to take place in a mosque. If the suspect we were pursuing had not gone into the mosque, we had no reason whatsoever to go into the mosque. But we were placed in an awkward situation.”

Minister Odongo also stated that they were going to investigate on how the children ended up in the mosque.

“Some look like children from Rwanda, from Burundi and Kenya, we are going to ascertain how many,” he added.

Police said they recovered weapons, including 60 rounds of ammunition and a bow and arrow.