Uganda police arrest seven terror suspects

Ugandan police have arrested seven people for allegedly belonging to two terror cells, and having links to a raid in the central Lukaya and Butambala districts.

Police Spokesman Fred Enanga said intelligence operations had shown that fugitive cleric imam Suleman Nsubuga was preparing the suspects for attacks.

Mr Nsubuga escaped a raid to his hideout in the central Wakiso District last year.

Mr Enanga said police were working to disassemble any regrouping cells following sustained crackdowns after militant attacks in October and November 2021.

"These are operational cells which are autonomous, mobile and flexible. However, we want to reassure the public we will ensure we eliminate them and prevent the creation of new cells," he said.

The Ugandan government last year blamed Islamic State-affiliated Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) for a series of attacks in the capital, Kampala, which left scores dead and dozens wounded.

The attacks led to a joint operation with the Democratic Republic Congo forces against the rebels that began with airstrikes on 30 November.

A second phase of the operation is currently ongoing in eastern DR Congo, while no attacks have been reported in Uganda in recent times.

The ADF has operated in the dense forests in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, across the border with Uganda, for more than three decades. The group began killing civilians in large numbers in 2014.

The attacks in October and November prompted the Ugandan military to deploy in eastern DRC in late November to take on the Islamist fighters.