KAMPALA, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) — Ugandan security agencies on Friday foiled a bomb plot in the capital Kampala just a week after Somali militants threatened terror attacks on the city.
Gerald Olengor, a night watchman who found the bomb at Bhatia Tower located on the main street of the capital told Xinhua at the scene that it was wrapped in old newspapers and chains around it.
“When I was patrolling at around 6 in the morning, I found something inside the entrance which looks like a small wall clock with chains around it, I was scared,†he said.
Olengor then called in his supervisor Joseph Ochieng, together with whom he reported the situation to the Police. According to Olengor, there are 15 shops and 14 storerooms in the building.
Police cordoned off the building and part of the road in front of it. The Bomb Squad arrived shortly to remove the bomb from the building and took it in a special vehicle to an unknown place before traffic and business returned to normal.
However, the Police was not readily available for a comment.
It is not clear whether this was a terrorism attempt but it comes just a week after Somali hard-line Al Shabaab insurgents threatened to launch assaults on the capitals of Uganda and Burundi to avenge what they called an indiscriminate attack in Mogadishu by African Union peacekeepers.
Uganda and Burundi have over 4,300 peacekeeping troops in Somalia who have lately come under attack by the Somali militia.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni last Friday warned the insurgents that they would pay heavily if they dare attack Kampala.
“Those terrorists I would advise them to concentrate on solving their problems. If they try to attack Uganda then they will pay because we know how to attack those who attack us and they are not in heaven,†he said.
Security agencies are not yet linking this attempted attack to the insurgents’ threats but Lt. Col Felix Kulayigye, army spokesman told Xinhua that the threats are real and the agencies were not taking them lightly.
“For us in security we never ignore anything nor do we panic. All I can assure is that we are prepared, anybody who dares we shall deal with him and we shall take the war where they have come from,†he said.
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Source: XINHUA
