Mbuya Attack: Army withholds names of arrested soldiers

The army has said it will not release the names of the three soldiers arrested in connection with the Monday morning attack on Mbuya barracks until investigations are concluded.

The UPDF spokesperson, Col. Felix Kulayigye, today told Daily Monitor he has no update on the investigations but said the inquiry was going on well.

However, information from our sources indicates that the Commander of the Special Forces Command, Brig. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, spent the whole of Monday afternoon meeting UPDF officers in the barracks.

There are also reports that the guard who shot and killed one of the gunmen had been promised a promotion but Col. Kulayigye said he was not aware.

“He was doing his job. That’s what a guard is supposed to do. When someone tries to take your gun and defend yourself, you are doing your job,” he said

One of the attackers, according to our investigations, was a former Lord’s Resistance Army rebel who had been given amnesty but later disappeared.

The army has insisted these gunmen were “thugs” trying to steal guns for robbery, but ssecurity analysts say no ordinary criminal hunting for riches would bypass large shopping malls in the city outskirts and dare to invade a barracks unless they are interested in seizing arms and other military hardware.

The soldiers were arrested for allegedly collaborating with the intruders who were reportedly to be 35 and armed with two sub machine guns and a pistol. However the army has dismissed this number, saying it is much lower than that.

Military sources say the intruders first tried to strangle two guards who were sleeping before the third one, who was awake, shot and killed one with the rest scampering in panic.

editorial@ug.nationmedia.com