It was somber moods as parents and different family members picked up the bodies of their children who were killed by suspected ADF militants on Saturday.
On Sunday, the death toll had raised to 42 including students at Lhubiriha secondary school and other non-teaching staff who were murdered in cold blood.
One of eight people wounded in Friday night’s attack, in which 38 students were killed, died overnight, said Mpondwe-Lhubiriha Mayor Selevest Mapoze.
“Most of the relatives have come to take their bodies” from the morgue, he said.
Some students were burned beyond recognition, and others were shot or hacked to death after militants armed with guns and machetes attacked Lhubiriha Secondary School, co-ed and privately owned, which is located about 2 kilometers (just over a mile) from the Congo border.
Ugandan authorities believe at least six students were abducted, and taken as porters back inside Congo.
In addition to the 38 students, the victims include a school guard and three civilians.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the attack in a statement, urging “the importance of collective efforts, including through enhanced regional partnerships, to tackle cross-border insecurity between (Congo) and Uganda and restore durable peace in the area.”
Relatives grieve as they wait to collect the bodies of villagers who were killed by suspected rebels as they retreated from Saturday’s attack on the Lhubiriha Secondary School, outside the mortuary of the hospital in Bwera, Uganda Sunday, June 18, 2023. Ugandan authorities have recovered the bodies of 41 people including 38 students who were burned, shot, or hacked to death after suspected rebels attacked the school in Mpondwe near the border with Congo, according to the local mayor.
Relatives grieve as they wait to collect the bodies of villagers who were killed by suspected rebels as they retreated from Saturday’s attack on the Lhubiriha Secondary School, outside the mortuary of the hospital in Bwera, Uganda Sunday, June 18, 2023.
The atmosphere in Mpondwe-Lhubiriha was tense but calm Sunday as Ugandan security forces roamed the streets outside and near the school, which was protected by a police cordon.
Ugandan security forces have not given a detailed account of how the rebels, active in eastern Congo, were able to carry out the attack. The group, known as the Allied Democratic Forces, or ADF, rarely claims responsibility for attacks. It has established ties with the Islamic State group.
The ADF has been accused of launching many attacks in recent years targeting civilians in remote parts of eastern Congo, including one in March in which 19 people were killed.
The ADF has long opposed the rule of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, a U.S. security ally who has held power in this East African country since 1986.
The group was established in the early 1990s by some Ugandan Muslims, who said they had been sidelined by Museveni´s policies. At the time, the rebels staged deadly attacks in Ugandan villages as well as in the capital, including a 1998 attack in which 80 students were massacred in a town not far from Friday’s raid.
The attack followed the same playbook: violence against students. The attackers targeted two dormitories, using extreme force when the boys resisted, according to Ugandan officials.
“This terrorist group couldn’t enter, so they threw in a bomb, they threw in a petrol bomb,” said Education Minister Janet Museveni, who also is Uganda´s, first lady. “So, these children were burnt.”
Students have been attacked because schools are considered soft targets, pupils are sometimes recruited into rebel ranks or used to carry food and supplies for insurgents, and such raids provide media coverage coveted by extremists.
The raid appears to have taken Ugandan authorities by surprise, and first responders arrived after the attackers had left.
Some villagers have temporarily moved away from the Mpondwe-Lhubiriha community, fearing more attacks, Mapoze said.
The border is porous, with multiple footpaths not monitored by authorities. Many parts of eastern Congo are lawless, allowing groups like the ADF to operate because the central government in Kinshasa, the capital, has limited authority there.
But attacks by the ADF on the Ugandan side of the border are rare, thanks in part to the presence of an alpine brigade of Ugandan troops in the region. Ugandan forces have been deployed to eastern Congo since 2021 under a military operation to hunt ADF militants down and stop them from attacking civilians across the border.
The deployment of Ugandan troops inside Congo followed attacks in which at least four civilians were killed when suicide bombers believed to be members of the ADF detonated their explosives at two locations in Kampala, the capital, in November 2021. One attack happened near the Parliament building and the second near a busy police station.
Relatives ride in the back of a truck with the coffins of villagers who were killed by suspected rebels as they retreated from Saturday’s attack on the Lhubiriha Secondary School, outside the mortuary of the hospital in Bwera, Uganda Sunday, June 18, 2023. Ugandan authorities have recovered the bodies of 41 people including 38 students who were burned, shot, or hacked to death after suspected rebels attacked the school in Mpondwe near the border with Congo, according to the local mayor.
Relatives ride in the back of a truck with the coffins of villagers who were killed by suspected rebels as they retreated from Saturday’s attack on the Lhubiriha Secondary School, outside the mortuary of the hospital in Bwera, Uganda Sunday, June 18, 2023.
A bloodstain is seen on the shattered window of a dormitory inside the Lhubiriha Secondary School following an attack on the school on Saturday, in Mpondwe, Uganda Sunday, June 18, 2023, near the border with Congo. Ugandan authorities have recovered the bodies of 41 people including 38 students who were burned, shot, or hacked to death after suspected rebels attacked the school, according to the local mayor.
A bloodstain is seen on the shattered window of a dormitory inside the Lhubiriha Secondary School following an attack on the school on Saturday, in Mpondwe, Uganda Sunday, June 18, 2023, near the border with Congo.
Relatives grieve as they wait to collect the bodies of villagers who were killed by suspected rebels as they retreated from Saturday’s attack on the Lhubiriha Secondary School, outside the mortuary of the hospital in Bwera, Uganda Sunday, June 18, 2023. Ugandan authorities have recovered the bodies of 41 people including 38 students who were burned, shot, or hacked to death after suspected rebels attacked the school in Mpondwe near the border with Congo, according to the local mayor.
Relatives grieve as they wait to collect the bodies of villagers who were killed by suspected rebels as they retreated from Saturday’s attack on the Lhubiriha Secondary School, outside the mortuary of the hospital in Bwera, Uganda Sunday, June 18, 2023.
Tape cordons off a building inside the Lhubiriha Secondary School following an attack on the school on Saturday, in Mpondwe, Uganda Sunday, June 18, 2023, near the border with Congo. Ugandan authorities have recovered the bodies of 41 people including 38 students who were burned, shot, or hacked to death after suspected rebels attacked the school, according to the local mayor. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)
Tape cordons off a building inside the Lhubiriha Secondary School following an attack on the school on Saturday, in Mpondwe, Uganda Sunday, June 18, 2023, near the border with Congo.
A dormitory destroyed by fire is seen inside the Lhubiriha Secondary School following Saturday’s attack on the school in Mpondwe, Uganda Sunday, June 18, 2023, near the border with Congo. Ugandan authorities have recovered the bodies of 41 people including 38 students who were burned, shot, or hacked to death after suspected rebels attacked the school, according to the local mayor. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)
A dormitory destroyed by fire is seen inside the Lhubiriha Secondary School following Saturday’s attack on the school in Mpondwe, Uganda Sunday, June 18, 2023, near the border with Congo.
A relative grieves as she waits to collect the bodies of villagers who were killed by suspected rebels as they retreated from Saturday’s attack on the Lhubiriha Secondary School, outside the mortuary of the hospital in Bwera, Uganda Sunday, June 18, 2023. Ugandan authorities have recovered the bodies of 41 people including 38 students who were burned, shot, or hacked to death after suspected rebels attacked the school in Mpondwe near the border with Congo, according to the local mayor.
A relative grieves as she waits to collect the bodies of villagers who were killed by suspected rebels as they retreated from Saturday’s attack on the Lhubiriha Secondary School, outside the mortuary of the hospital in Bwera, Uganda Sunday, June 18, 2023.
The body of a villager who was killed by suspected rebels as they retreated from Saturday’s attack on the Lhubiriha Secondary School, lies in the mortuary of the hospital in Bwera, Uganda Sunday, June 18, 2023. Ugandan authorities have recovered the bodies of 41 people including 38 students who were burned, shot, or hacked to death after suspected rebels attacked the school in Mpondwe near the border with Congo, according to the local mayor.
The body of a villager who was killed by suspected rebels as they retreated from Saturday’s attack on the Lhubiriha Secondary School, lies in the mortuary of the hospital in Bwera, Uganda Sunday, June 18, 2023.
Plainclothes security forces and civilians stand outside the entrance to the Lhubiriha Secondary School following an attack on the school on Saturday, in Mpondwe, Uganda Sunday, June 18, 2023, near the border with Congo. Ugandan authorities have recovered the bodies of 41 people including 38 students who were burned, shot, or hacked to death after suspected rebels attacked the school, according to the local mayor.
Plainclothed security forces and civilians stand outside the entrance to the Lhubiriha Secondary School following an attack on the school on Saturday, in Mpondwe, Uganda Sunday, June 18, 2023, near the border with Congo.
Relatives wait to collect the bodies of villagers who were killed by suspected rebels as they retreated from Saturday’s attack on the Lhubiriha Secondary School, outside the mortuary of the hospital in Bwera, Uganda Sunday, June 18, 2023. Ugandan authorities have recovered the bodies of 41 people including 38 students who were burned, shot, or hacked to death after suspected rebels attacked the school in Mpondwe near the border with Congo, according to the local mayor.
Relatives wait to collect the bodies of villagers who were killed by suspected rebels as they retreated from Saturday’s attack on the Lhubiriha Secondary School, outside the mortuary of the hospital in Bwera, Uganda Sunday, June 18, 2023.
A member of the security forces uses his mobile phone torch to inspect a bedroom inside the Lhubiriha Secondary School following an attack on the school on Saturday, in Mpondwe, Uganda Sunday, June 18, 2023, near the border with Congo. Ugandan authorities have recovered the bodies of 41 people including 38 students who were burned, shot, or hacked to death after suspected rebels attacked the school, according to the local mayor.
A member of the security forces uses his mobile phone torch to inspect a bedroom inside the Lhubiriha Secondary School following an attack on the school on Saturday, in Mpondwe, Uganda Sunday, June 18, 2023, near the border with Congo.
Relatives prepare to ride in the back of a truck with the coffins of villagers who were killed by suspected rebels as they retreated from Saturday’s attack on the Lhubiriha Secondary School, outside the mortuary of the hospital in Bwera, Uganda Sunday, June 18, 2023.
Ugandan authorities have recovered the bodies of 41 people including 38 students who were burned, shot, or hacked to death after suspected rebels attacked the school in Mpondwe near the border with Congo, according to the local mayor.
Relatives prepare to ride in the back of a truck with the coffins of villagers who were killed by suspected rebels as they retreated from Saturday’s attack on the Lhubiriha Secondary School, outside the mortuary of the hospital in Bwera, Uganda Sunday, June 18, 2023.
Security forces patrol inside the Lhubiriha Secondary School following an attack on the school on Saturday, in Mpondwe, Uganda Sunday, June 18, 2023, near the border with Congo. Ugandan authorities have recovered the bodies of 41 people including 38 students who were burned, shot, or hacked to death after suspected rebels attacked the school, according to the local mayor.
Security forces patrol inside the Lhubiriha Secondary School following an attack on the school on Saturday, in Mpondwe, Uganda Sunday, June 18, 2023, near the border with Congo.
Additional reporting by DaParrot Media
