Two pupils injured in Amuru bomb blast

AMURU-Two pupils have been hospitalised in critical conditions after being injured in a bomb blast in Amuru District.

The incident happened on Sunday afternoon at Cindi village in Otwee Town Council.

Local authorities in the area identified the injured children as Ivan Kidega, 8, and his brother Joel Owiri, 11, all pupils of Otwee Primary School. They have been admitted at St Mary’s Hospital Lacor in Gulu District.

The Amuru Resident District Commissioner, Mr Bilak Jalmoro said the children were injured while hunting for edible rats in an area previously occupied by the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) as an army detach during the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) insurgency.

Mr Jalmoro said preliminary investigations indicate that the children were injured after a Rapid Propelled Grenade (RPG) exploded.

He suspects the grenade l could have been either left behind by UPDF who occupied the area or planted by the LRA rebels.

“We are unsure of what triggered the bomb blast. We still don’t know whether the children tried playing with it or they accidentally stepped on its trigger,” Mr Jalmoro said.

He, however, called on the intervention of the Tactical Field Engineering Unit under the Fourth Division Infantry headquarters in Gulu District to assess the area for unexploded ordinances [UXOs].

The Fourth Infantry Division Spokesperson, Maj Telesphor Turyamumanya said he had not got information about the bomb blast but promised to liaise with the security personnel in Amuru District.

He said the members of UPDF Tactical Field Engineering unit would be dispatched to checks the area for the presence of unexploded ordinances.

Maj Turyamumanya said although they have been able to destroy thousands of unexploded ordinances, many such active explosives that were planted by the LRA rebels are still within various locations in the region.

This is not the first incident in the region which was ravaged by the two decade LRA war.

In June 2015, three children and their mother were injured in a bomb blast at Amilobo village in Lamogi Sub-county, Amuru District.

In January last year, six children from the same family in Angagura Sub-county, Pader District were left with grave injuries after a hand grenade they were playing with exploded.

Several other people have been injured and killed in the past years by unexploded ordinances that still remain scattered in northern Uganda.

Because of the fear of being hit by such unexploded ordinances has made many peasant farmers in the region to abandon their farm lands and opt for other economic activities.