Two killed in Munyonyo Martyrs' Day explosion

Ugandan authorities have in recent years stepped up surveillance during major public events, citing threats from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a rebel group linked to the Islamic State group, responsible for past attacks.

An explosion killed two suspected rebels including a female suicide bomber near a Roman Catholic shrine in Uganda's capital Kampala on Tuesday morning, but no other people were reported hurt, authorities said.

The Daily Monitor and New Vision newspapers reported that the blast near the Munyonyo Martyrs' Shrine in the south of the city had killed at least two people as Ugandans assembled to celebrate Martyrs' Day, which commemorates Christians who were killed for their faith in the 19th century.

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The two assailants were thought to be linked Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a Congo-based rebel group allied to Islamic State (IS) which claimed responsibility for multiple bombings in 2021, Ugandan army spokesman Chris Magezi told Reuters.

Magezi wrote on X that a "counter-terrorism unit this morning intercepted and neutralized two armed terrorists in Munyonyo, an upscale city suburb."

One of the individuals was a female suicide bomber "laden with powerful explosives," Magezi said.

NBS, an independent broadcaster, showed video of what appeared to be a motorbike and body on a road surrounded by debris.

Police spokesperson Kituuma Rusoke did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the explosion.

"Two people were on a motorcycle and an explosion occurred," Ugandan police chief Abas Byakagaba told NBS in a video posted on X.

Byakagaba did not say what happened to the two people on the motorbike but added: "The good thing though is that there were no people nearby who were injured."

The ADF was founded by Ugandan Muslims in the 1990s and initially waged war against the Ugandan government from bases in the country's west before fleeing into eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where they are blamed by the United Nations for thousands of civilian deaths.