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Attack on Zombo UPDF base: Security officials ignored early alerts
What you need to know:
The attackers who later fled were confronted by UPDF soldiers about 2.5 kilometres at Ajeri hills in Agure village in Zombo Town Council, Ajeri in Nyapea and Konga in Athuma Sub County. It’s at this point of gunfire exchange where two UPDF soldiers were reportedly shot dead and two others injured by the attackers.
The attack on a Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF0 base at Oduk village in Zombo District could have been prevented had security officials acted swiftly on early warning reports, area leaders have revealed.
On March 6, 2020, more than 100 men armed with machetes, bows and arrows raided the UPDF base and killed five soldiers. Three of the soldiers were killed at the base while two others died in a gunfire exchange in Ajeri Hills as they were chasing the attackers.
The attackers also looted three guns and set ablaze nine huts before fleeing. 22 civilians were also killed and 35 of the attackers were arrested. Now, fresh information shows that local leaders in the district started issuing distress calls to security personnel about the suspicious men in December last year.
The latest reports were made two weeks before the attacks. The LCI Chairperson of Agure Village in Zombo Town Council reportedly informed the office of the Resident District Commissioner and Officer in Charge of Zombo Police Station that suspicious people were holding meetings in his area.
Mr Ismail Mustafa, the LC I Chairperson of Oduk Village, says his counterpart’s reports were taken for granted since no attempt was made to investigate the reports. He says security officials should be answerable for what happened, saying they had the information on their fingertips but didn’t act to save lives.
“If need be, then the Resident District Commissioner should be answerable to this because the Chairperson LCI of Agure village brought reports thrice to his office and that of the OC Zombo Police station before the incident occurred, but no one acted. If our Chairperson LCIII had the same power as them, we would have been saved but now we suffered because of their failure to act,” he said.
This reporter has also established that the report was forwarded by the Officer in Charge of Zombo Police station to the District Internal Security Officer who also passed it over to the RDC.
Mr Joseph Ogen, the Zombo Town Council LCIII Chairperson, says intelligence reports indicated that the attackers had spent the last two weeks prior to the raid within Zombo Town Council associating with locals and security personnel.
“Some of them who have since been arrested were sighted within Zombo Town Council market on Thursday before the attack that night,” he said.
Mr Ogen says the attack came several months after the District Security Committee failed to boost security despite their consistent requests as local leaders of the area.
Zombo Town Council with a population of 15,000 people relies on 15 security personnel, two police officers and 13 UPDF soldiers.
Reliable information obtained by this reporter shows that the attackers first approached the police station where they attempted to break a door. They later proceeded to the Resident District Commissioner’s office where they hurled stones at the window and doors before attacking the UPDF detach.
Mr Joel Bogere, the Officer in Charge of Zombo Police Station confirmed that several reports regarding suspicious gatherings of people were made to their office since December last year.
He, however, said since the matters were sensitive and beyond their capacity, he referred them to the Resident District Commissioner, Andrew Kajoyingi and District Internal Security Officer for Action.
“We only have three police officers at this station so we couldn’t handle such sensitive matters. We forwarded them to the RDC and DISO. We were actually even very lucky on the night of attack because our station was the first to be attacked but we were not around,” he said.
Efforts to get comments from Kajoyingi were futile as he didn’t pick our repeated phone calls to his known phone number.
Who were the attackers
According to Mr Ogen who quoted intelligence sources, 15 suspected masterminds of the attack crossed from the neighbouring Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and coordinated with a group of locals of Zombo District.
He says reports from some of those captured indicated that the 15 masterminds wanted guns, adding that after they succeeded and immediately crossed into Padeya in DRC.
The Deputy UPDF Spokesperson Lt Col Deo Akiiki in a statement released early this week revealed that a group of 89 civilians mostly from Paidha, Nyapea, Zeu, Zaale, Songoli, Atyak and Warr armed with bows, arrows, pangas and spears were misled by some Congolese elements seeking guns for use for criminal activities in Eastern Congo.
The attackers who later fled were confronted by UPDF soldiers about 2.5 kilometres at Ajeri hills in Agure village in Zombo Town Council, Ajeri in Nyapea and Konga in Athuma Sub County. It’s at this point of gunfire exchange where two UPDF soldiers were reportedly shot dead and two others injured by the attackers.
The injured soldiers are receiving treatment at St Mary’s Hospital Lacor in Gulu Municipality.
Meanwhile, UPDF has stepped up security in Zombo District according to the Fourth Infantry Division spokesperson, Maj Caesar Olweny
He says the soldiers will help beef security within the district and ensure that what happened on their military installation never reoccurs.
