Ugandan School Attack: Families Bury Their Children, Loved Ones Amid Tears | by AMAKA Editorial

By Nnenna Ibeh

Parents and families of students and officials killed in the attack on the Lhubiriha secondary school in Mpondwe, a town in the Western Region of Uganda, have started burying their loved ones.

Residents are seen at the premises of the Mpondwe Lhubiriha Secondary School, Uganda. Photo courtesy: Getty Images

The victims were said to have been burnt beyond recognition after five militants linked to the Islamic State’s West Africa Province (ISWAP) stormed on Friday, June 16.

The incident, which occurred at around 23:30 (20:30 GMT), left over 40 people, including students and staff of the school, dead.

Authorities determined to fish out attackers

Authorities said members of the terrorists - suspected to be mainly from the Allied Democratic Forces - invaded the school dormitories, setting fire to the facility after killing students and officials of the institution with machetes.

With a chase for the attackers underway, CNN reports that authorities were still trying to extinguish the fire as of Saturday, June 17.

The report also said that 62 people, mostly students between the ages of 13 and 18, were in the school during the attack.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who described the attack as a desperate and cowardly act of terrorism, has vowed to eliminate the militants responsible for the massacre of over 40 people.

Museveni said: “Their action — the desperate, cowardly, terrorist action — will not save them.