Sudan Tribune
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
The Ugandan police on Monday issued a warning to the public, saying
it had received information from “credible sources” that terrorists were
planning to strike the capital, Kampala.“Police last evening (Sunday) received information from credible sources of a plan by a group of people
to unleash terror attacks in the city [on] Monday, 9 December”,
statement released by the spokesperson of the Ugandan police, Judith
Nabakoba, said.
“The plan involves a group of thugs either on foot or boda-boda riders attacking and burning petrol stations and buildings in the city, especially business premises”, the statement adds.
At the time of filing this report, no such terror attack had been reported in the Ugandan capital.
The
police said it was hunting the unnamed suspected terrorists and that it
had put in place measures to stop possible attacks on petrol stations
across the city.
“As police hunt down the thugs, and takes
precautionary deployment in all petrol stations and in the city,
especially in the central business districts, we appeal strongly to
proprietors of public places, especially petrol stations and business
premises, to be extra vigilant, particularly do not allow strangers near
your premises”, the statement said.
Security has also been stepped up at public institutions, including Makerere University, Uganda’s oldest university, where security personnel were checking the cars and the bags of everyone entering the grounds.
Uganda
has long said it is a target for terror attacks by the Somali militant
group Al-Shabaab because of the country’s involvement in the fight
against the militant group in Somalia.
Uganda was the first country to send troops to Somalia under the banner of the African Union (AU) in the fight against the Al-Shabaab.
In July 2010, the militant group carried out a twin bomb attack in Kampala, killing 74 people who were attending a World Cup soccer game.
The warning is the third terror alert
issued since September this year. In October, the police said it was
hunting for a terrorist of German origin who had sneaked into the
country. Within the same month the local US embassy in Kampala issued a
warning, saying the country was at risk of being attacked by terrorists.