Police in Uganda have charged 15 people with terrorism, including a pregnant mother, for their suspected role in recent attacks blamed on a rebel group.
In October and November, Uganda was attacked by a series of explosions that killed five people and injured hundreds more.
Ugandan authorities said a “domestic terror group” with ties to the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) — a militant outfit which Washington has linked to the Islamic State — was responsible for the attacks.
“Fifteen people appeared before court yesterday on charges of terrorism, aiding, abetting terrorism and belonging to a terrorist group,” Kampala’s Metropolitan Police deputy spokesman, Luke Owoyesigyire, told AFP Friday.
After the attacks, Uganda sent troops and conducted air and artillery operations against the ADF in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), after Kinshasa gave Kampala permission to pursue the militants on its country.
Four people were killed and 33 were injured in twin suicide attacks in Kampala, Uganda’s capital, on November 16.
IS claimed responsibility for the assaults, which occurred after a bombing at a roadside cafe on October 23, which killed one woman, and a suicide bombing on a bus outside Kampala on October 25, which injured numerous others.
All 15 suspects were involved in the four bombings, according to police spokesman Owoyesigyire, and will be held in custody until January 13, when they will appear in court again.
IS has claimed responsibility for some ADF attacks in eastern DR Congo since April 2019, describing the organization as an offshoot of its Islamic State Central Africa Province.
The ADF was added to the US list of “terrorist” organizations linked to IS in March.
In August, Uganda blamed the organization for a failed bomb assault on the funeral of an army officer who commanded a significant offensive in Somalia against Al-Shabaab insurgents.
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