Islamic State claims responsibility for Uganda bomb attack

The Islamic State claimed responsibility for a bombing that killed at least one person in Uganda on Saturday night.

The group said it planted an explosive device in a bar where “members and spies of the Crusader Ugandan government were gathering” in Kampala, Uganda’s capital city, according to Reuters. 

Police said the bomb was full of nails and shrapnel and targeted a pork restaurant. Three men, who appeared to be customers, went to the restaurant and left after placing a polyethylene bag under the table.

A 20-year-old waitress was killed in the explosion, and three other people were injured. Two of the three people who survived the attack but sustained injuries were in critical condition, Reuters added. 

Reuters reported that the group claimed responsibility via a statement issued on an affiliated Telegram channel late Sunday night. 

Police indicated the attack appeared to be an act of domestic terror, and President Yoweri Museveni agreed in a tweet on Sunday that it “seems to be a terrorist act.” 

I have been briefed on the bomb incident in Kwata zone, Komamboga. The Information I have is that 3 people came and left a package in kaveera which later on exploded, killing 1 person and injuring 5 others.
It seems to be a terrorist act but we shall get the perpetrators.

— Yoweri K Museveni (@KagutaMuseveni) October 24, 2021

“As I said earlier, I condemn the action of the ‘parasite pigs’ that planted a bomb at Digida Pork Point where they sell pork, sodas & alcohol. Although these people were breaking curfew hours & using the place as a bar, still the criminality of the perpetrators must be condemned,” Museveni added in another tweet on Sunday.  

In 2010, al Shabaab, a Somalian terrorist group, claimed responsibility for a similar attack in Kampala that killed dozens of people. The group said that bombing was in retaliation for Uganda’s deployment of peacekeeping troops to Somalia.