Godfrey Olukya
Tuesday September 5, 2023
Police in Uganda announced Sunday that they had thwarted a bomb attack at a Pentecostal church in the capital.
They said they arrested a 28-year-old man as he attempted to enter the grounds of Rubaga Miracle Centre Cathedral in Kampala with an explosive device in his backpack.
Police spokesperson Patrick Onyango told reporters that the man had been identified as Ibrahim Kintu and he confessed that his three accomplices had also been sent on similar missions to other churches.
Onyango said that a few days ago, police had received intelligence that terrorists wanted to plant bombs in some churches and they went on the alert and began checking anyone entering places of worship.
“Security agencies have been picking up intelligence that there are terrorists who are interested in planting bombs. We followed one and arrested him. He is helping us locate at least three more explosives in the hands of apparent terrorists on a mission to harm worshipers,” he said.
On July 11, 2010, suicide bombers detonated explosives, killing 74 soccer fans watching the World Cup final on television at a crowded restaurant and a rugby club in the capital.
On Nov. 16, 2021, three people were killed and 33 others were wounded in twin suicide bombings in Kampala.
Daesh/ISIS claimed responsibility for both incidents, saying they were carried out in revenge for Uganda sending troops to maintain peace in Somalia.