The leader of an ADF rebel group accused of murdering two tourists and their guide in Uganda has been captured and is the “sole survivor” of an operation that eliminated the other six members of the commando, the Ugandan army announced on Thursday November 2.
The attack, which killed a British man and a South African woman on their honeymoon and their guide in Queen Elizabeth Park on October 17, was claimed by the Islamic State (EI) group, to which the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels have pledged allegiance.
On Wednesday November 1, the Ugandan army announced that it had killed “a significant number of ADF terrorists involved in the attack” during a night-time operation on Lake Edward, which borders Queen Elizabeth Park to the east and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to the west, where the ADF are based.
“The entire team sent by the ADF to sow chaos, kill tourists, burn down schools and hospitals has been eliminated and the only survivor is the commander we captured,” army deputy spokesman Colonel Deo Akiiki explained on Thursday. The man, identified as Njovu, “was carrying the identity card of the deceased guide and some of the belongings of the murdered foreign tourists”, he added.
Wounded in the back during the operation, he is currently being treated at an undisclosed location, added Colonel Deo Akiiki, assuring that he “will be brought to trial”.
The commando was made up of seven members in total, according to General Dick Olum, in charge of an anti-ADF operation in the DRC, detailing: “Four of the terrorists were hit by gunfire and sank (in the lake, ed. note), two tried to swim across and were also shot dead”. According to him, the group was preparing “another mission to carry out further terrorist attacks”, unaware that the army was monitoring their movements.