Uganda says 567 ISIS-allied fighters have been killed in its operations in Congo
KAMPALA (Reuters) – Uganda has killed more than 560 members of an Islamic State-allied rebel group since operations against them began in December 2021, President Yoweri Museveni said.
The anti-Kampala group Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) is based in the jungles of eastern neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo and from there launches attacks in both Congo and Uganda.
After obtaining Congo’s permission, the Ugandan military launched operations against the ADF there, aiming to destroy their camps and kill or capture the group’s fighters.
In a speech late Thursday, Museveni said 567 of the ADF fighters had been killed and another 50 captured. He said the 167 pieces of equipment recovered from the rebels also included submachine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.
“They are desperate… the only option for them is to surrender,” Museveni said.
Museveni urged Ugandan operators of buses, markets and hotels to be vigilant and register all customers to prevent possible ADF attackers from using their facilities.
This week, Ugandan police said they had recovered at least six improvised explosive devices intended to be used by ADF attackers, including one they received from an attacker just outside a church he was attempting to enter.
In two of the group’s most devastating attacks in Uganda in 2021, suicide bombings left seven people dead outside a major police station in the capital and near the parliament building.
In June this year, 42 people, mostly students, were massacred at a school in Kasese, western Uganda.
(Reporting by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by George Obulutsa and Kim Coghill)
Copyright 2023 Thomson Reuters.
