Kampala, 09 June, 2025 / 12:51 pm (ACI Africa).
Officers of the Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF) have thwarted a planned suicide bombing during this year’s celebrations of Uganda Martyrs thanks to intelligence from a couple of days before the annual event that brings together millions of pilgrims, who travel from different countries to Kampala, the capital city of the East African nation.
On Tuesday, June 3, two people died when explosives detonated close to Munyonyo Martyrs’ Shrine, according to a Reuters report about the martyrdom place of St. Andrew Kaggwa and St. Denis Ssebugwawo and the place where in 1886, St. Charles Lwanga, who was a Christian community leader baptized St. Kizito, St. Mbaaga Tuzinde, St. Gyavira and St. Mugagga Lubowa.
In an interview with Uganda’s Sanyuka Television aired on Thursday, June 5, UPDF’s Acting Director of Defence Public Information, Col. Chris Magezi, provides details about the June 3 foiling of the terror attack.
“At around 8:30 am, we intercepted a suicide bomber 600 metres from the ultimate target. We engaged them, and the explosive she was wearing went off. The rider also died,” Col. Magezi said about the incident that happened some 30 kilometres from the main celebrations at Namugongo Shrine, where St. Charles Lwanga and his companions, who included pages at the royal court, were burned alive by the order of Kabaka (King) Mwanga II of the Buganda kingdom.
He said the two assailants were thought to be linked to Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a Congo-based rebel group associated with the Islamic State (IS), which claimed responsibility for multiple bombings in 2021.