KAMPALA.The Uganda People’s Defense Forces(UPDF) have revealed that their detectives have been trailing the suspected female suicide bomber for five days who was brutally shot dead at Kalerwe Market,on the outskirts of Kampala City on Sunday morning .
According to Maj. Gen Felix Kulayigye , the Director of Defence Public Information,on the third day of trailing , the UPDF security operatives began monitoring her communications — an intelligence breakthrough that enabled them to track her movements.
“For the last three days, intelligence was trailing a woman whom they understood had a mission to attack a church and a market. She was being followed by intelligence personnel from the moment she left her location, particularly when she picked a boda boda rider at Busega,” Gen Kulayigye said
He added: “We have not yet identified the suspected suicide bomber, but very soon we shall know.
From my observation, as I saw her, she may be Congolese.” Preliminary investigations suggest that the woman hired a boda boda from Busega,south west of Kampala City and was transported via the Northern Bypass. Upon reaching the Kalerwe flyover, she was stopped by security personnel, but insisted on proceeding towards the market, where she was eventually shot dead.
The army mouthpiece said the woman was carrying a bomb in her bag, and her apparent target was to detonate it in the usually busy market. He clarified that the explosive device was not attached to her body. “The bomb squad was called in, and the device was safely disrupted and later detonated in the presence of civilians and members of the media,” he said.
Recent terror threat
The Sunday incident comes exactly 20 days after another terror-related episode in Munyonyo, Kampala, where two individuals described by the Army ) as “armed terrorists” were intercepted and killed by a counter-terrorism unit. One of them was also identified as a female suicide bomber.
This incident happened a few metres away from the Martyrs mini Basilica , Munyonyo during this year’s Martyrs’ Day celebrations, where thousands of Catholics had converged for prayer.
Reports at the time indicated that an explosion occurred as the duo approached the church on a boda boda . The army said it was believed the two people were linked to the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), which is an affiliate of the Islamic State (IS) group.