Rebel Attack on High School Claims Lives of Dozens of Students

The bodies of 41 individuals, including 38 students, were recovered by Ugandan authorities. These individuals were burned, shot, or hacked to death after suspected rebels attacked a secondary school near the border with Congo. The local mayor, Selevest Mapoze, reported that the rebels fled into the Democratic Republic of Congo after the raid on Friday night. Along with the students, one guard and two members of the local community were killed outside the school. Some students suffered fatal burns when the rebels set fire to a dormitory, while others were shot or hacked with machetes.

The raid occurred around 11:30pm and involved approximately five attackers, as confirmed by the Ugandan military. Upon responding to the attack, soldiers from a nearby brigade found the school on fire, with dead bodies of students in the compound. Forty-seven bodies were reported, with eight others being treated for injuries at a local hospital. Ugandan troops are currently pursuing the perpetrators and working towards rescuing the abducted students. The victims were forced to carry looted food towards Congo’s Virunga National Park. The Allied Democratic Forces, an extremist group based in eastern Congo, is believed to be responsible for the raid on Lhubiriha Secondary School.

Lhubiriha Secondary School is a co-ed, privately owned institution located in the Ugandan district of Kasese, near the Congo border. Some of the victims were burnt beyond recognition, according to an official representing Uganda’s president in Kasese. A political leader and former lawmaker from the region, Winnie Kiiza, condemned the attack on Twitter. The Allied Democratic Forces has a history of launching attacks on civilians in remote parts of eastern Congo. The group, which was established by Ugandan Muslims in the early 1990s, has been known to oppose the rule of President Yoweri Museveni. It has also formed ties with the Islamic State group.

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