Militants linked to Islamic State (IS) killed 37 people in a terrorist attack on a school in western Uganda near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, the military said on Saturday.
Members of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a Ugandan group based in eastern Congo that has pledged allegiance to Islamic State, attacked Lhubirira secondary school in Mpondwe, burning a dormitory and looting food late on Friday, police said.
Military personnel found the bodies of the dead when they arrived at the school, defence spokesperson Felix Kulayigye said in a statement.
“Our forces are pursuing the enemy to rescue those abducted and destroy this group,” he said earlier on Twitter. The attackers, from the rebel group Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), fled towards Virunga National Park in Congo, police said.
Soldiers were pursuing the attackers who fled towards Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, police added.
In April, the ADF attacked a village in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, killing at least 20 people.
Uganda has sent troops into Congo to help fight the ADF.
