Ugandan Army the Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) said security have deployed deployed “all resources both technical and physical” in pursuit of suspected terrorists following the murder of two foreign tourists and their guide while on a tour in a national park.
On Tuesday evening October 17th 2023 at about 6:40PM, suspected Allied for Democratic Force (ADF) terrorists attacked and killed two tourists and their driver, along Katunguru-Mweya, Katwe Road in Queen Elizabeth National park situated in Kasese district. Their vehicle was also burnt down in the attack.
The foreign tourists have since been confirmed as a newlywed couple and UK nationals who had come to spend their honeymoon in the Uganda’s national park.
On Wednesday, the UPDF spokesperson Brig Gen. Felix Kulayigye said a joint force of the army, Uganda Police and Uganda Wildlife Authority have deployed all resources both technical and physical in pursuit of the terrorists to ensure they pay for their actions.
In a statement, Kulayigye said the rebel attack is in retaliation to the intensified UPDF operations against the ADF, with a hope to divert the army’s attention.
For two years now, the ADF -a terrorist group operating in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo, has been under pressure following the launch of a joint Operation Shuuja by both the UPDF and Congolese forces inside DRC. The army attributes yesterday’s incident and other recent attacks on ADF remnants who are retreating in the wake of UPDF fire inside Congo.
In a letter he wrote after the incident, President Yoweri Museveni described the attack as a cowardly act on the part of the terrorists attacking innocent civilians, and said the terrorists will pay with their own wretched lives.
Museveni hailed the security agencies behind the operations to wipe out ADF but called on all to do what is necessary to ensure that the remnants do not commit these atrocities.
“There were a few gaps in the handling of these remnants. UWA was guarding tourists once they were in the Park. However, apparently, the tourists were arriving and departing individually. It is this gap that they used.”
The president also noted that Uganda’s High Commission in the UK will reach out to the victims’ families and provide whatever support is necessary in this tragic situation.