Bomb blast injures Amuru family
Ms Jennifer Acan at the Intensive Care Unit at St Mary’s Hospital Lacor. Photo by Julius Ocungi
AMURU- Three children and their mother have been injured in a bomb blast at Amilobo village in Lamogi Sub-county Amuru District.
The incident happened shortly after 8pm last Saturday as the family of four waited for supper in their grass-thatched hut.
The injured children have been identified as Eunice Akwero, 12, Grace Amito, 14, Steward Owachgui, 8 and their mother, Jennifer Acan 35.
They were rushed to St Mary’s Hospital Lacor for treatment. On Wednesday, Akwero was still in the Surgery Ward.
The blast affected her eye sight while her mother was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit with injuries on her hands, eyes and cheeks.
The other children suffered minor injuries and have been discharged.
“The children went in the morning to the nearby garden and came back with two metallic objects. They played with it throughout the day, and even me I held it in my hands before handing it over to them. None of us knew it was a bomb,” she said.
Ms Acan, who spoke to Daily Monitor from her hospital bed, said at around 8pm, as she took a nap while waiting for the supper to get ready, she overheard the children quarrelling over the object with each of them claiming they found it first.
“One of them, I think, was annoyed and decided to throw the object into fire. My little boy later came running to me that something was making noise, when I dashed to remove it from fire, I saw a flash of light followed by loud explosion that threw me out,” she said.
Aswa region police commander Wilson Kwanya confirmed the incident and said police and the army visited the scene and recovered another bomb that the children had been playing with.
Past incidents
In April, farmers in Laminladera village, Koro Sub-county in Gulu District, suspended farming for fear of getting hit by unexploded bombs that were planted in the area during the Lord’s Resistance Army war.
Their fears came after the discovery of five bombs by children who were playing. Children found the explosives in a tree in the middle of their family garden bringing to 19 the total number of bombs discovered in the same area in less than six months .
