The Uganda Peoples Defence Force (UPDF) has gunned down three Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels, captured two in relation to the Friday, June 16, 2023, school attack that occurred in Kasese District, Western Uganda, killing 37 students.

According to the available information, the three rebels have been killed in Virunga National Park during a military attack against the ADF by the armed UPDF soldiers who have since intensified the combing of the area in pursuit of the ADF rebels.

The video clip making rounds on different social media platforms show UPDF soldiers removing the bodies of the ADF rebels out of swamps where they have been hiding since the attack.

According to Brigadier Felix Kulayigye, the UPDF Spokesperson, UPDF is yet to release an official statement to account for the videos and reports that are circulating on the media platforms.

However, while delivering a report on the Kasese school attack before the floor of Parliament, the Minister of Defence and Veterinary Affairs, Vincent Ssempijja Bamulangaki revealed that UPDF also rescued a woman and child who had been abducted by the rebels.

When contacted, Lieutenant Maate Magwara, the Kasese Deputy Resident District Commissioner (DRDC), said that, the situation is calm in the area where the tragic incident took place, adding that schools around the scene of crime have resumed teaching.

“But the schools in the neighborhood are operating and I am having a meeting with the Head teachers of the Town Council to discuss how to improve security measures in schools,” Magwara said.

He added that, UPDF is patrolling the border in cases of any eventuality and has intensified the pursuit to net more attackers to further investigations of the matter.

This has come at a time when UPDF launched Operation Shujaa with artillery strikes against ADF hideouts in the DRC forests on November 18, 2022.

ADF has for several years operated in the volatile North Kivu which borders other provinces including Ituri to the North and South Kivu to the South.