At least three people were killed and 33 injured on the morning of Tuesday, November 16 in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, in a double "suicide bombing" carried out by a "local group linked to the ADF", an Islamist rebellion affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) organization, police said.

The government had already attributed two bomb attacks carried out at the end of October in Kampala to the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a group born in Uganda and which has taken root for more than twenty-five years in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ( DRC) neighbor, where he is accused of numerous massacres of civilians.

The Islamic State organization designates the ADF as its "Central African Province" (Iscap in English).

In March, the United States officially declared them affiliated with ISIS.

The attacks have so far not been claimed, but "their characteristics match the ADF," a police spokesman said.

The two explosions occurred three minutes apart shortly after 10 a.m. local time (7 a.m. GMT) in Kampala's business district.

The first attack was carried out at a checkpoint near the police headquarters by a man carrying a bomb in a backpack.

The second by two men "disguised as motorcycle taxis" near the entrance to Parliament, according to police.

Counter-terrorist forces arrested a fourth suicide bomber and "recovered an unexploded explosive device […] at his home," said Fred Enanga. 

The health ministry spokesperson said on Twitter that 24 people were being treated at Mulago hospital in Kampala, four of them in critical condition.

"Following the cowardly and regrettable act of terrorism, our health workers are working tirelessly to save the lives of the injured," he wrote. 

The cordoned off neighborhood, buildings being evacuated

Tuesday's attacks caused panic in the business district, where "shredded" and "scattered" bodies littered the ground, according to the police spokesman. Kyle Spencer, executive director of an NGO, heard the explosions and described to AFP the panic that reached people in the neighborhood. "The road to Parliament is closed, there are people crying and the others are just trying to leave the area," he said. "Everyone is evacuating the office buildings and the buildings are locked and no one can enter."

The detonation near the police headquarters destroyed windows, while that of Parliament set fire to vehicles parked nearby, according to the deputy police chief.

"We have deployed a team [in the area]," a Ugandan Red Cross spokesperson told AFP.

Parliament canceled its scheduled session on Tuesday, asking members to avoid the area "because security forces are working hard to restore order."

By early afternoon, the area around the Parliament was cordoned off by heavily armed soldiers and members of the forensic science, dressed in white, were inspecting the site.

The US Embassy in Kampala has asked its citizens to stay away from the area and follow the media.

Two other attacks in October 

These attacks "clearly show that groups linked to the ADF still have the will to carry out deadly attacks against easy targets [...] with suicide bombers and homemade explosive devices," the police spokesman said.

Kampala was targeted in October by two attacks, attributed by the police to the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a Muslim rebel group that emerged in Uganda and which has been rooted for more than twenty-five years in neighboring eastern DRC, where it sows terror.

A bomb explosion at a restaurant in the capital on October 23 killed a young waitress and a suicide bombing on a bus near Kampala two days later left many injured.

The first attack was claimed by Iscap. 

Ugandan police arrested a number of suspected ADF members last month, claiming to suspect an attack on "major facilities".

The ADF are considered by experts to be the deadliest of the 120 or so armed groups that roam eastern DRC, many of them the product of two regional wars fought a quarter of a century ago.

With AFP

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