Uganda: Minister shot, daughter and bodyguard killed

 Steph Deschamps / June 1, 2021

Uganda's transport minister, a former army chief, was shot and wounded Tuesday in an attack in which his daughter and bodyguard were killed, a government spokesman said.

Gen. Edward Katumba Wamala, who led the armed forces between 2013 and 2017, was targeted by gunfire while driving on the northern outskirts of Kampala, the capital, according to spokesman Chris Baryomunsi. Mr. Katumba Wamala was the target of an attack this morning. His daughter and bodyguard were hit by gunfire and died on the spot, Baryomunsi told AFP on Tuesday. General Katumba was rushed to hospital with bullet wounds and is being treated. Investigators have taken charge of the crime scene, he added, the investigation will determine the motive and those behind the attack. Witnesses told local TV stations that four masked men riding two motorcycles fired repeatedly at the minister's car. Images broadcast on these channels and on social networks show the vehicle - easily identifiable by its green license plate reserved for the military - riddled with dozens of holes. The attack is the latest in a series of killings of prominent Ugandans in recent years, with a similar pattern.

In June 2018, Ibrahim Abiriga, one of the leaders of President Yoweri Museveni's National Resistance Movement (NRM) party, was shot and killed by men on motorcycles. In March 2017, Ugandan police spokesman Andrew Kawes was killed in the same area as Tuesday's attack. Witnesses described seeing four masked men, perched on two motorcycles, shoot at him. In March 2015, Joan Kagezi, a prosecutor investigating a 2010 jihadist attack in Kampala, was shot and killed by motorcyclists on her way home. No one has been convicted in any of the three killings.