Kampala, Uganda | THE BLACK EXAMINER | Ugandan Police successfully thwarted a plot by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebel group to carry out a bomb attack on churches, according to President Yoweri Museveni. The intended target was churches in the Kibibi and Butambala areas, located about 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the capital, Kampala.
The ADF had constructed two explosive devices with the intention of planting them in the aforementioned churches. Fortunately, these devices were discovered and reported to the police, who subsequently defused them.
It’s worth noting that the ADF has previously pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group. On the same day, President Museveni announced that Ugandan forces had conducted air strikes against ADF positions in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo. While he mentioned that a substantial number of terrorists were killed in the airstrikes, specific details were not provided. He also cautioned that the ADF might attempt “random terrorist acts” in Uganda in response to the airstrikes.
This incident follows a similar situation in September when Ugandan police prevented a bomb attack on a cathedral in Kampala, apprehending a suspect attempting to activate an explosive device among worshippers. Additionally, in June, ADF militia members tragically claimed the lives of 42 people, including 37 students, in a high school in western Uganda near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. This attack marked one of the deadliest incidents in Uganda since the 2010 double attack in Kampala, during which 76 people lost their lives in an assault attributed to the Somali-based Islamist group, al-Shabaab.
A United Nations expert panel on the Democratic Republic of Congo reported in June that ISIS had been providing financial support to the ADF since at least 2019.