How security connected dots among bomb terror suspects

A squad of counter-terrorism agents were hot on the heels of a terror suspect in October, when they received information that more terror suspects were planning several more attacks in November and December in Kampala.

Sources close to the probe said security agents had received an intelligence tip-off through a social media platform, triggering off  the hunt for the terror suspects.

The source said a social media platform was designed to exhibit similarities with a website but with restricted access only to the administrators of the site.

“We hacked into the system and managed to get some phone contacts and other Facebook links, warning other countries on terror threats, we subjected telephone contacts to examination for any other connection,” the source said.

A security forensic report indicates that the terror group had links with the deadly terrorist groups that had attacked cities in France in November 2015 and left at least 41 people dead and 239 others wounded.

Tapping into terror network

The joint anti-terror security task force then used the phone mapping technology to trace the suspects. 

The investigators say the main terror suspects were held and prosecuted in different courts and countries while others were killed during a series of counter-terrorism operations in Uganda, Kenya, and DR Congo.

Security operatives sources said the domestic terror groups in Kampala are connected in a way that they have the same method of attack. 

“In the Komamboga incident, one person was killed and in the Swift Safari bus, one person was also killed. The group is trying to test their capability,” the source said.

Security has since carried several raids which are intelligence-led and arrested several suspects in respect to the bomb terror threats.

Last month, a bomb blast went off at Komamboga near Kampala, leaving one person dead and several others injured.

A fresh investigation by the anti-terror squad then commenced as they trailed new groups that were threatening attacks on Uganda and neighbouring countries.

Police said the three suspected bombers at Komamboga disguised themselves as customers before planting the explosives under a table at the hangout. The Islamic State group (IS) later said it was behind the attack. 

The explosion came one week after the UK government issued an alert of an imminent terror attack in Uganda.

It warned British citizens in the East African country - where attacks of this kind are rare - that “terrorists are very likely to try to carry out attacks”. It advised them to keep out of public places, including restaurants and bars.

Police spokesman Fred Enanga said the bombers ordered food and drinks at the bar, before placing a plastic bag under a table. The explosion went off moments after they left.

Investigators have found nails, ball bearings and other metal fragments, Mr Enanga added.

He said these indicated the blasts were caused by an improvised explosive device.

President Museveni said on Twitter that the blast was a terrorist act and promised to catch the perpetrators.

“The public should not fear, we shall defeat this criminality like we have defeated all the other criminality committed by the pigs who don’t respect life,” he said.

In the same month, at least one person died and several got wounded in an explosion on a bus en route to Mbarara, two days after a deadly attack in the Ugandan capital claimed by ISIL (ISIS).

Mr Enanga said bomb specialists were sent to Lungala following the deadly explosion on a bus belonging to Swift Safaris.

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