At least 25 people are dead and eight are in critical condition after an attack at a secondary school in western Uganda on Friday, police said Saturday.
Police attributed the killings at Lhubirira secondary school in the town of Mpondwe — about 1.2 miles from the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo — to the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebel group.
The perpetrators are also alleged to have burned a dormitory and looted food. They remain at large, the statement said.
“A hot pursuit by the UPDF [Uganda Peoples’ Defense Forces] and the police is ongoing, toward Virunga National Park,” police spokesman Fred Enanga said. “We do offer our deepest condolences to the families of those who have been killed, and offer our prayers and thoughts to those who have been wounded.”
It was not immediately clear how many of the dead are students.
The ADF was founded by Ugandan exiles in the Congo in 1995 with the aim of toppling Uganda’s government. The United Nations said in 2020 that the group may have committed crimes against humanity and war crimes, including abductions, civilian killings and use of child soldiers.
The U.S. State Department designated the ADF an Islamic State affiliate as well as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in 2021, according to the Congressional Research Service.