Death toll in Uganda’s Kasese region hits 60

Police in Uganda have confirmed that 46 royal guards of the Rwenzururu Kingdom have died in heavy fighting that erupted in Kasese Town, western Uganda, on Saturday, November 26.

Fire exchange rocked the Rwenzori region, Kasese district, on Saturday afternoon and continued until Sunday morning pitting Rwenzururu Kingdom guards and security agents.

Government information indicate that fighting broken out when kingdom royal guards attacked Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF) officers on patrol with an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) killing 14 of them.

Police retaliated by opening fire in a heavy gunfight that went through the night leaving over 60 people dead, by the break of dawn.

The government accuses King Charles Wesley Mumbere of the Kingdom of grooming a separatist militia in his kingdom.

Police spokesperson, Andrew Felix Kaweesi, told journalists: “We believe these attacks have a political motive and we have so far arrested 15 key ring leaders. This is not an insurgency but rather a violent crime.”

King Mumbere was later extracted from his palace and flown to capital Kampala. Police claim that they took the initiative to keep him safe.

The government has since then launched an inter-security agencies operation to mob up illegal firearms in the hands Rwenzururu royal guards and members of the public in the entire Kasese district.

Uganda’s Daily Monitor reported that police recovered 16 petrol bombs, 42 knives, metal detectors, 4 radio calls among other weapons from the King’s palace.

A Ugandan journalist, working for Kenya’s KTN Television channel, Joy Doreen Biira, was arrested by police in Kasese town for allegedly filming a military operation at the King’s palace.

She was released on Monday, November 28 evening on a police bond and is set to appear in court on December 8, 2016 to answer to charges of abetting terrorism after taking pictures of the operation and sharing them on social media.