Writes Leo Odera Omolo
THE suicide bombs which rocked Kampala city on July 11, killing 76 people were smuggled into the country in June from a neighbouring country, investigators said yesterday.
“The bombs were assembled outside Uganda and only smuggled into the country, packed in boxes,” a source said.
The details emerged after the Joint Anti-Terrorism Task Force and America’s Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) interrogated several suspects in connection with the attack.
The suspects were interrogated at a Police station in the city amid tight security. The inquiry is also focused on reports that the attackers may have smuggled in more bombs than the number they used. The investigations had yielded “vital information”, according to the sources.
The sources said the number of suspects had shot up to 43, some 16 of whom are Pakistanis, 11 Somalis and eight Ugandans. The identities of the other seven are not established. Earlier reports had put the number of Somali suspects to 20.
Last evening, another suspect, a Nigerian, was arrested from Busia and transferred to Kampala.
Somalia’s al-Shabaab militants claimed responsibility for the three bomb blasts which ripped through a crowd of fans watching the World Cup soccer final at the rugby club in Lugogo and at an Ethiopian restaurant in Kabalagala, also a city suburb. A fourth bomb failed to explode at Ice-Link Discotheque in Makindye.
The investigating team is made up of the Police anti-terrorism unit, the Chieftancy of Military Intelligence, the internal and external security organisations.
FBI agents joined their Ugandan counterparts in interrogating the Pakistanis, many of them heavily-bearded in white, dirty tunics.
The Pakistan High Commissioner, Dr. Manzoor Chaudry, flew in from Nairobi and together with Dr. Boney Katatumba, the Consul of Pakistan in Uganda, visited the suspects. Chaudry and Katatumba also met Police chief Maj. Gen. Kale Kayihura.
“The high commissioner came to pay condolences to the Government and the people of Uganda and express solidarity with the people of Uganda. We visited the suspects and met 15 of them in different locations,” Katatumba said.
Katatumba added that they supported the investigations.
“Pakistan has suffered from the same crime and we expressed our willingness to share information on any of the suspects,” he said.
Interpol and FBI circulate photos
International Police (Interpol) has issued black notices for the two suspected suicide bombers behind the attacks, following the reconstruction of their photos.
The notices were issued on the request of Uganda Police. A black notice is issued in order to seek information on unidentified bodies. The notices were circulated to the 188 member states.
The FBI is also seeking information on the identity of the two suspected suicide bombers, whose heads were recovered from the scenes of the blasts. Information can be forwarded to its website, http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/seekinfo/uganda.htm.
In a statement, the FBI appreciated “the complete support from Kayihura and the Police Force”. It added that the US had been victim to serious terrorist attacks and it had learned that “partnerships were critical” in investigating and preventing them.
“As part of the investigation, the FBI and Uganda law enforcement officials are seeking information regarding the identity of the two suicide bombers.
Photos have been reconstructed to demonstrate how the two suspected male bombers may have appeared,” the statement added.
Ends