Two bomb explosions rocked Kampala central business district at 10.00 am this Tuesday morning, killing a yet to be determined number of people and injuring many.
Most of the injured who were rushed to Mulago National Referral Hospital were police personnel, injured at the first explosion, the Central Police Station which is also headquarters of Kampala Metropolitan Police which covers a quarter of the country’s population.
The second explosion site was on Parliament avenue near the Parliament building. Those injured here were rushed to the Kampala City Council clinic for immediate attention before being ferried to the Mulago.
All roads into the city have been temporarily closed and now ambulances are dominating the traffic in the city as they rush casualties to Mulago. Journalists who cover Parliament have been turned away, a clear indication that there will be no Parliament sitting today.
Authorities had not issued any statement an hour later. Only the ruling NRM party Kampala Central Salim Uhuru has so far gone on air to ask all citizens to be alert, and confirm that police personnel have died, even stating a name of one of the dead policemen.
The blasts come a couple of weeks since a home made bomb went off at a pub in the Komamboga suburb of Kampala killing one and injuring several, and another blast on a bus killed the suspected bomber.
The new attack on Kampala comes on the eve of the anniversary of last year’s pre-election riots in which scores were shot dead and several families are still complaining that their relatives who were arrested have not been released, a year later.
The immediate previous two blasts were attributed to the rebel Allied Democratic Forces ADF. Government has vowed to stamp out the ADF, which has been conducting terror activities for about 25 years, and whose supreme leader Jamil Mukulu is in custody.
