BY ISAAC MUMBERE, MOUREEN BIIRA & JEROME KULE
Fear engulfed residents of Kasese municipality and Rugendabara-Kikongo Town Council following a heavy gun fire that rocked the two areas in the wee hours of Saturday.
The gun fire was a repulsive force by the Uganda Police Force against unknown assailants who mounted attacks on the Kasese Police Barracks along Kilembe Road and on a police post in Rugendabara-Kikongo town council.
Ms Juliana Kabugho, a resident of Rugendabara I Upper in Rugendabara- Kikongo Town Council says she had woken up at 6:40am to prepare for church service only to see long lines of people wielding pangas. Filled with fear, Kabugho retreated to her house and herself inside.
Ms Ireen Kasundi another resident says she had just returned in the house at 7:00am shortly after escorting their mother to the taxi stage when she heard gunshots. She told Messiah Radio that she was deeply frightened.
In Kasese Municipality, Mr Samuel Katushabe said he initially thought that the lions from Queen Elizabeth National Park could have strayed into the community and that the Uganda Wildlife Authority was trying to recapture them only to realise that the intensity of the gunfire was quite heavier.
The attacks simultaneously happened between 5:30am and 7:00am on the police barracks along Kilembe Road in Kasese town and in Rugendabara-Kikongo town council.
The attackers who were armed with pangas, catapults and stones torched one uniport at the police barracks and inflicted a lot of damage on another before being repulsed by the police personnel.
According to Kasese Resident District Commissioner, Lt Joe Walusimbi, one police constable was injured at the police post in Rugendabara while five others were injured at the police barracks in Kasese town.
Lt Walusimbi, who was giving a brief statement to the media today morning, revealed that nine of the attackers were also killed after four of them were gunned down at Kasese police barracks and another five put out of action during the raid on the police post in Rugendabara.
However, Mr Daniel Kambale, the Chairperson Rugendabara-Kikongo Town Council puts the figure in his town council alone to more than 10 although Messiah Radio could independently verify this toll.
Mr Hudson Musale, the Buhuhira sub-county chairperson identified some of the deceased as Charles Mbene, a resident of Kahondo village, Abeli Sibaminya a resident of Kikoka and one Gadi Kirongotse Karungi who hails from Buhuhira village all of them from Buhuhira sub-county.
Meanwhile Lt Joe Walusimbi, the head of security in the western Uganda district also added that 30 of the attackers from the two separate incidents have also been arrested and would play a critical role in aiding investigations into this matter.
He has appealed to the people of Kasese to remain calm and work with the security agencies to bring to book any suspicious and wrong elements within their communities.
In another separate incident, similar attacks have also been recorded in Bundibugyo district on Malindi and Kakuka military barracks in the border sub-county of Singila.
A source who preferred anonymity revealed that he has so far seen two dead bodies arising from the attack on Kakuka barracks.
In Fort Portal, a flash report from the Divisional Police Commander Fort Portal North SP Bihembo indicated that gun-wielding people suspected to be rebels were seen advancing from Karangura heading to Bukuuku under North DivisionFort Portal City.
He says the army responded swiftly and intercepted them trying to attack Canon Apollo Core Primary Teachers’ College in an altercation that saw four of the suspected attackers killed and two others captured alive.
The attacks were seemingly coordinated given that they happened around in different locations at the same time; a replica of the 2014 coordinated attacks in Kasese, Ntoroko and Bundibugyo. ENDS.