Bomb blasts remain a threat in Omoro
UPDF officers examine one of the spots where one of the landmines were planted by the LRA rebels in Gulu District. PHOTO BY TOBBIAS JOLLY OWINY
What you need to know:
- Mr Sam Lango, the chairperson of Ogwari A Village Veterans ‘Association, said he suspects that the children were hit by a landmine planted by the LRA.
An eight-year-old boy has died and four others critically injured after a metal object suspected to be an anti-personnel landmine went off in Ogwari A Village, Orapwoyo Sub-county in Omoro District.
According to reports, the deceased, identified as Yasin Alenga, and his playmates found the munitions in the compound after a downpour and attempted to dig them from the ground. The ordnance later went off, ripping his lower parts of the body. He was pronounced dead hours later.
The survivors have been identified as Abraham Oloya, 5, Darius Opiyo, 12, Jerry Alobo, 2, and Apollo Okello, 8, all residents of Ogwari A village and are currently receiving medical attention from various health facilities in Gulu City.
Mr Sam Lango, the chairperson of Ogwari A Village Veterans ‘Association, said he suspects that the children were hit by a landmine planted by the LRA.
“This could be a landmine that was planted a long time ago. Even if it stayed in the ground for a long time, it was still active and dangerous. Unfortunately, it claimed the life of an innocent child,” he said.
Ogwari was one of the villages that served as bases of the elusive LRA leader Joseph Kony and his brutal rebel force. The village lies just 20km from Kony’s ancestral home and the mystical Awere Hills.
James Opiyo, the Orapwoyo Sub-county chairperson, who is also the chairperson for the Security Committee, urged the local residents to be on the lookout for any suspicious objects so as to avoid such deaths in the future. In March, a 47-year-old woman was killed in a suspected bomb blast in Nimu Village, Lukung Sub-county in Lamwo District.
The victim was identified as Esther Ayao. Ms Ayao died instantly while clearing her garden. The bomb ripped the upper parts of her body. In the last 20 years, the Acholi Sub-region, the epicentre of the over two-decades-long civil war, has recorded over 20 civilian fatalities as a result of bomb blasts.
For instance, on December 9, 2020, two children were killed and two others seriously injured in Lamwo District after a grenade they were playing with exploded in Abuka Village, Palabek Gem Sub-county.
Meanwhile, in December 2019, a 22-year-old man, identified as Vincent Okello, a resident of Lapobo-Iko Village, Latanya Sub-county in Pader District, died after an explosive went off accidentally while he was clearing a piece of land.
A similar incident in 2001 left a livestock farmer dead after he stepped on an anti-personnel land mine in Limu Village, Lukung Sub-county in Lamwo District.
The bomb squad said 9,000 UXOs are still buried dangerously on the ground in the Acholi Sub-region, waiting to be triggered. According to the agency, such bombs can remain active for 100 years.
