Militants with ties to Islamic State group kill 10 in Uganda's western district

By Risdel Kasasira, KAMPALA Uganda

At least 10 people have been killed by militants with ties to the Islamic State group during an attack in Uganda’s western district of Kamwenge, the East African nation’s military said Tuesday.

The Allied Democratic Forces militants attacked the village early Tuesday morning, said the Uganda People’s Defence Forces spokesperson Brig. Gen. Felix Kulayigye, without providing further details.

It’s the latest in a series of attacks this year blamed on the ADF, a group established in the early 1990s by Ugandan Muslims who said they were sidelined by the policies of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, in power since 1986.

The ADF militants who attacked Kamwenge district had crossed from the neighboring Congo last month and were being hunted by the military, Brig. Kulaigye said. “These ADF attackers are remnants of the group that is scavenging for food,” he said.

Despite airstrikes and joint security operations by the militaries of Uganda and Congo, the militants continue to launch deadly attacks on locals and security forces across the border of the two countries, including the June attack on a school dormitory in Uganda’s Kasese district that left more than 40 dead.

In October, the group killed two tourists and their local driver at a national park in the Kasese district near the border with Congo.