Kampala. The 19 arrested terror suspects, who intended to hit Kampala, entered the country between Monday and Saturday last week, security sources said yesterday.
According to the sources, the suspects were staying in rental houses they had turned into cells in Kampala suburbs of Kisenyi, Nakulabye, Kasubi, Busega and Lungujja to assemble the explosives. Security sources say the suspects entered the country without passports through unofficial border posts along the borders with Kenya and South Sudan and boarded vehicles to Kampala.
The International Police (Interpol) yesterday wrote to the Uganda police requesting for identities of some of the arrested al-Shabaab terrorist suspects who are on the global list of wanted terrorists.
Police action
“It is true that Interpol has asked for those identities and we are working on that. Interpol has a database of all criminal records and they want to work with us as we investigate,” said Mr Assan Kasingye, the director Interpol.
At least 19 al-Shabaab terrorists were arrested in an intelligence-led operation mounted by police, military intelligence and Internal Security Organisation.
Police were tight-lipped on the details of the suspects and how they were arrested. The deputy police spokesperson, Ms Molly Namaye, said the suspects were being held in different police posts and would soon be produced in Court.
“We are not holding them in one prison cell; we keep moving them in different cells for security purposes,” Ms Namaye said, adding: “We are currently keeping their information to ourselves because we believe that will help us succeed in our investigations.”
“Terrorists do not work alone; we believe the group has been working with other groups either within or outside the country, and so, we want them (suspects) to help us know who they were dealing with,” she added.
But other security sources yesterday told Daily Monitor that most suspects entered Kampala between Monday and Saturday.
“This group came in recently through our porous borders. Some came through Kenya and others through South Sudan and we are still looking for other cells,” the source said.
“The suspects were planning to use both explosives and guns to gain entry to targeted places and cause “maximum damage””, the source added.
“They were planning to go to places with big numbers and the attacks would combine both shooting and explosives. They would use explosives, cause confusion, gain access to the targeted places before shooting people and blowing up the targets,” the source said.
It’s not clear whether the guns to be used are already in the country or the suspects were planning to bring them into the country.
In Somalia, al-Shabaab militants have been using vehicles loaded with explosives and have targeted several government buildings.
Sources said among the suspects are suicide bombers and those who have been doing surveillance on the targeted places.
“The attackers are most likely new and ready to die. But those who have been here for quite some time doing surveillance were planning to go back,” the source said.
Ms Namaye has said the suspects are to appear in court soon.
The revenge
The new al al-Shabaab leader, Sheikh Ahmad Umar Abu Ubaidah, threatened to revenge and attack East Africa after his predecessor, Abdi Ahmed Godane, was killed in a US air strike two weeks ago.
The Monitor
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