Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni announced on Saturday that an airstrike carried out by the country’s military had successfully eliminated members of an Islamic State (IS)-affiliated rebel group, resulting in the elimination of a key figure responsible for orchestrating bomb attacks in Uganda’s capital.
The airstrike, which occurred on September 16th, was conducted in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.
Subsequent intelligence reports confirmed that members of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an Islamic State (IS)-linked rebel group, were among those killed in the operation, according to President Yoweri Museveni.
“A lot of terrorists were killed, including the notorious Meddie Nkalubo, who has been the author of the bombs in Kampala,” Museveni said in a statement referring to Uganda’s capital.
In December 2021, Uganda initiated a military operation in eastern Congo against the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebel group. However, despite these efforts, the ADF continues to conduct attacks on both civilian and military targets in both Congo and Uganda.
Two of the most devastating attacks carried out by the group in Uganda occurred in 2021. These attacks involved suicide bombings outside a major police station in Kampala and near the parliament building, resulting in the loss of seven lives.
In June of this year, a tragic incident occurred where 42 people, predominantly students, were brutally killed at a school in Kasese, located in western Uganda. Uganda attributed this attack to the ADF rebel group.
The rebel group is widely believed to be aiming to establish Islamic rule in the East African country.
The rebel group emerged in the 1990s in Uganda’s west but was eventually defeated by the military. Remnants of the group fled into the jungles of eastern Congo, where they have been operating from since then.
ADF almost never issues statements and has not commented on the Ugandan raid.
