Death toll revised to 41 in attack on school in western Uganda: Report

The death toll in an attack on a school in western Uganda has risen to at least 41 from 25 announced earlier by police, Ugandan media outlets said on Saturday.

Privately-owned NTV Uganda television said on Twitter that the toll stood at 41, while state-run New Vision newspaper said it was 42.

Police earlier said that 25 people died in a “terrorist attack” on a school in western Uganda by fighters from the ISIS-aligned Allied Democratic Forces militia, the national police spokesman said Saturday.

“So far 25 bodies have been recovered from the school and transferred to Bwera Hospital,” Fred Enanga said of the overnight attack that occurred near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Enanga said the ADF, which is based in eastern DR Congo, attacked a secondary school near Bwera where “a dormitory was burnt and food store looted.”

“Also recovered are eight victims, who remain in critical condition at Bwera hospital,” he said.

The army and police units were pursuing the attackers in the direction of Virunga National Park, which lies over the border in DR Congo where the ADF is based.

Originally insurgents in Uganda, the ADF gained a foothold in eastern DRC in the 1990s and have since been accused of killing thousands of civilians.

Since 2019, some ADF attacks in eastern DRC have been claimed by ISIS.

With AFP and Reuters