Witnesses recount raid on UPDF base in Zombo District

Attack. Some of the houses at Oduk Army base that were burnt by attackers in Zombo Town Council, Zombo District, on Thursday night. PHOTO BY PEACE GIRAMIA 

What you need to know:

  • Since Friday last week, the Army commanded by Col Jackson Kayanja, the Brigade Commander for West Nile Sub-region, intensified operations to hunt and wipe out the attackers.
  • At least 35 invaders who were captured in the immediate and subsequent clashes are currently in detention at Gulu Fourth Infantry Division barracks in Gulu District.

Nearly six days after a group of men armed with machetes, bows and arrows raided a Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) at Oduk Village, Zombo District in West Nile Sub Region, the motive remains a mystery.

The attack, seemingly well planned by the assailants resulted into the killing of five soldiers while and 22 civilians. Nine huts were razed down and three AK47 assault riffle’s looted from the army detach by the attackers.

But some of the residents of Oduk village neighbouring the UPDF detach have for the first time opened up on the events that unfolded on March 6.

In an interview with this reporter on Wednesday, Mr Ismail Mustafa, the LCI Chairperson of Oduk village who resides about 200 meters from the base, said that he had just returned home at 11.58pm when he saw strange people advancing towards the army detach.

He says he saw three different groups of about 30 men, each armed with machetes, bows and arrows crossing a pedestrian path and advancing towards the detach. They were all wearing black facemasks. He says out of suspicion, he informed the detach intelligence officer but it was too late. Within a moment, the place was covered in a barrage of gunfire.

“They used a shortcut leaving out the main road towards the base. They were about 30 men in each group, the first and second group passed but I decided to come out of my house when the third group was coming, I informed the officer in the detach, but it was too late. They had black masks on their faces,” Mr Mustafa said.

Mr Mustafa who says he had a close working relationship with the officer in charge of the detach notes that on the night of the attack, only five soldiers were on guard while three had gone for patrol. He says that a few soldiers inside made it possible for the attackers who were more than 100 to easily penetrate the detach.

“The gunfire started and immediately I saw fire engulfing the detach. I was about 200 meters away. The soldiers also fired back but not long after, the gunshots went silent perhaps a signal that the attackers had killed them. Moments later, the officers on patrol arrived and chased the attackers towards our homes,” he recounted.

Mustafa says he remained indoors from midnight until 3am, when one of the soldiers who was shot in the right hand and bleeding profusely ran to his house requesting to be taken for medical treatment. He adds that at dawn, he went to the detach only to find news that three soldiers whom he worked with closely including the detach’s intelligence officer had been killed.

Mr Remijo Alithum, 66, another resident of Oduk village whose hut is just 50 meters away from the detach says he was woken up by the deafening sound of gunshots at midnight on Friday. He says that after minutes of trying to figure out what could be happening outside, he decided to overcome his fear to witness the event from the confines of his bedroom.

“I hid in the bathroom and I was able to watch the detach burn in huge flames while gunshots kept on raining for almost an hour. Although normalcy has resumed in the area, we are still living in fear that an attack of a similar nature may happen again,” he said.

When this reporter visited Zombo Town Council on Wednesday, a few people were continuing to carry on with their businesses while several kiosks and shops located distances from the scene of the attack remains closed.

The Zombo Town Council Chairperson, Mr Joseph Ogen, said that locals fled from 32 villages in the area to the neighbouring sub-counties of Nyapea, Atyak, Zeu and Paidha for safety, following the attack.

He also noted that the attack affected the school-going children, farmers and civil servants who for the past four days feared to move out of their houses.

Since Friday last week, the Army commanded by Col Jackson Kayanja, the Brigade Commander for West Nile Sub-region, intensified operations to hunt and wipe out the attackers.

At least 35 invaders who were captured in the immediate and subsequent clashes are currently in detention at Gulu Fourth Infantry Division barracks in Gulu District.