Police arrest woman over twin bombings

Ali Issa Ssenkumba has helped the police in the investigations.

Kampala

Police have arrested another suspect in connection to the July 11 bombings in Lugogo and Kabalagala. An Eritrean woman is suspected to be a fiancée to one of the alleged suicide bombers of Kyadondo Rugby Club is in police custody. However, Police yesterday said they had zeroed in on 21 suspects in the bombing that left over 76 people dead.

Security sources said they are holding 30 suspects on terrorism charges but 21 suspects are directly linked to July 11 bombings and al Shabaab terrorists who carried out the attacks.

The police chief, Maj. Gen. Kale Kayihura, said the woman would help with investigations. The arrest of the woman comes after the public gave leads to the two males whose bodies weren’t claimed after the bombs. Police say the arrest will also help them dig deeper in the underground works of the terrorist groups. The new development means that suspects under custody have reduced from 50 to 30.
Gen. Kayihura also said the remaining suspects in custody are linked to other terrorist groups and they have been under the scrutiny of different intelligence organs. Most of the 21 suspects were arrested in the eastern part of the country and intelligence reports indicate that they have been communicating using different electronic media.

Police say the suspects have provided “very useful” information that links them to al Shabaab, a Somali militant group. Intelligence agencies also suspect the group brought into the country more than six bombs.

“Ali Issa Ssenkumba told us that he brought six bombs. So far three went off, one was found and the other two are yet to be found,” Gen. Kayihura said. He said all international intelligence organisations that have talked to Ssenkumba say his information about what he found in the terrorist camps in Somalia correlates with what they had gathered before.

However Mr Jamil Kiyemba, who was earlier linked to the Al-Qaeda, was released. Police said he wasn’t connected to any terrorist attacks and was only summoned after false press reports that he was linked to the recent attacks.