GUNMEN STRIKE

…Kill Uganda minister's daughter, driver in failed assassination bid - army

KAMPALA - Gunmen attacked and wounded Uganda's former army commander yesterday, killing his daughter and driver in an assassination attempt on the general, the current minister of Works and Transport, an army spokeswoman and local media reports said.

Gunmen sprayed General Katumba Wamala's car with bullets in the Kampala suburb of Kiasasi, an army spokeswoman said.

"There was a shooting involving him...he is hurt and he's been taken to the hospital, his driver was killed," Army spokeswoman Brigadier Flavia Byekwaso said.

Wamala's daughter, who was in the vehicle with him was also killed, local television station NBS TV reported.

Images circulating on social media showed Katumba with his mouth open, in apparent distress outside an SUV and his light-coloured trousers splattered with blood. Social media images also showed bullet holes in a car window and casings on the ground.

There has been several assassinations and mysterious deaths of high profile officials in Uganda in recent years that have fuelled speculation about perpetrators and their motivations. Victims have involved a lawmaker, a senior police officer, the country's top public prosector, senior Muslim leaders and others.

The attempt on Katumba was orchestrated in the same suburb in the capital where in 2017 gunmen on motorcycles sprayed bullets to a vehicle carrying a senior police officer. That police officer, Felix Kaweesa, was killed alongside his bodyguard and driver.