Forty-one people, including 38 students, were killed when an Islamist extremist group attacked a secondary school.
Alleged members of the Allied Democratic Force, a rebel group associated with ISIS, reportedly executed the attack, abducting six individuals and taking them across the border to Congo, as informed by sources within the Ugandan military.
A survivor of the attack on Lhubiriha Secondary School in Uganda, Julius Isingoma, shared his account of survival. He described how he applied blood to his own body in an effort to make the attackers believe he was dead. He recounted lying amongst his deceased classmates, smearing their blood on his face and body. The attackers, convinced of his death after checking for a pulse, moved on.
The students initially sought safety in the boys’ dormitory, barricading themselves inside. Despite their efforts, the attackers managed to break in and open fire. Isingoma tried to take cover in the ceiling but fell, attracting the attention of the attackers, which prompted his desperate blood disguise.
Another student, Godwin Mumbere, survived by hiding beneath a bed, shielded by the bodies of his fallen classmates. Despite being shot in the hand and the subsequent setting ablaze of the dormitory, he survived.
The attackers used guns, hammers, and axes in their violent rampage, causing death through shooting, burning, and hacking. A school guard and two community members were among the victims.
The mayor of Mpondwe confirmed the grim death toll of 41, while survivors, including a critically injured girl, were taken to a hospital for treatment.