ISIS claims responsibility for attacks that killed three in Uganda

Two suicide bombings killed three people and wounded several dozen others in Uganda’s capital Kampala on Tuesday.

ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Police had earlier blamed the Allied Democratic Forces, an armed group active in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

The group, which Washington says has links to ISIS, is also blamed for a string of recent attacks in Uganda.

Two suicide bombers on motorbikes – disguised as local “boda boda” motorcycle taxi drivers – detonated a device near the entrance to parliament, killing a passer-by.

A third attacker hit a checkpoint near the central police station, killing two people, police spokesman Fred Enanga said. The explosions in Kampala’s central business district occurred within minutes of each other, shortly after 10am, and left “bodies scattered”, he said.

Police foiled a third attack, recovering an improvised explosive device from the home of a suspected extremist, who was shot and wounded, Mr Enanga said. They were in pursuit of other members of the group.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said the man later died. He vowed that the attackers “will perish”.

“The public should maintain vigilance of checking people at entry points to bus parks, hotels, churches, mosques, markets,” he said.

The blast near the police station shattered windows while the one near parliament set cars parked nearby on fire, Uganda’s Assistant Inspector General of police Edward Ochom said earlier. The Ugandan Red Cross said 21 of the 33 people wounded were police officers.

The attacks follow two blasts last month – a bus explosion near Kampala that wounded many people and a bombing at a roadside restaurant that killed one woman.

Police said both explosions were carried out by ADF.