Faith Nyasuguta
President Yower Museveni has revealed that Ugandan police have foiled a plot by Islamic State-linked militants to bomb churches in central Butambala district.
Two bombs were tied to public address systems and sent to pastors, disguised as gifts, Museveni noted.
Speaking on X, formerly known as Twitter, he added that members of the public became suspicious of the devices and told the police.
The head of state blamed the plot on the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a militant group linked to Islamic State. The ADF has not yet commented.
Set up in the 1990s, the ADF took up arms against President Museveni, alleging persecution of Muslims. After suffering heavy setbacks at the hands of the Ugandan army in 2001, it relocated to North Kivu province in neighbouring DR Congo.
The group pledged allegiance to IS in 2016.
The ADF has been blamed for a series of deadly attacks in Uganda, including the killing of more than 40 people, mostly students, at a boarding school in June.
According to President Museveni, the militants had planned to detonate two bombs in churches in Kibibi, about 50km (30 miles) from the capital, Kampala, on Sunday, but the devices “were reported to police and defused”.
“The evil plan was foiled,” he said, urging people “not to accept gifts from strangers“.
Earlier on Sunday, President Museveni said Ugandan forces had carried out air strikes against four ADF positions in DR Congo.
“It seems quite a number of terrorists were killed,” the president said.
He cautioned that the ADF “are re-entering Uganda and trying to commit some random terrorist acts“.
In September this year, Ugandan police also reported that they had foiled a bomb attack in one of the biggest churches in Kampala.
A man suspected of trying to detonate a bomb among worshippers was nabbed, police added.
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