Uganda's Kampala bombings: Muslim cleric accused of jihadist links shot dead
Security forces in Uganda have shot dead a Muslim cleric
accused of working with an armed group linked to suicide bombings in the
capital Kampala.
Officials said Sheikh Muhammad Abas Kirevu had recruited for
cells run by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) - rebels who have pledged
allegiance to the Islamic State group.
He was killed just outside Kampala.
At least four people were killed by attackers on motorbikes
who blew themselves up in the city on Tuesday.
More than 30 others were injured in the attack, which IS
said it was behind and officials have blamed on the ADF.
The Islamist militant ADF was formed in Uganda in the 1990s
but is now based in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Since pledging allegiance
to IS in 2019, it has increasingly carried out attacks in the group's name.
Twenty-one people have been arrested since Tuesday's attack,
in what police have described as the dismantling of ADF terrorist cells in
Kampala and across the country.
Police spokesperson Fred Enanga said 13 suspects, including
several children, were intercepted while trying to cross the border into DR
Congo.
On Wednesday, four suspected ADF operatives were killed near
the border.
A manhunt is also under way for another cleric, Sheikh Suleiman Nsubuga, who is accused of training terrorists, radicalising potential recruits, and providing materials to make improvised explosive devices.
Tuesday's attack was the latest in a number of recent bomb
explosions in Kampala.
Last month, a 20-year-old waitress was killed after a
device, left in a shopping bag, detonated in a bar in the city. Days later
several people were injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a bus near
Kampala. Police say both were linked to the ADF.
The bombings on Tuesday marked the biggest attack the ADF
has been linked to in Uganda since establishing relations with IS.
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