NAKASEKE: Two children have died after a suspected bomb exploded at Ssegalye village, Nakaseke district.
The deceased have been identified as Pius Kiwuwa aged 12 and Micheal Kiyingi aged 14 whereas another child aged nine months identified only as Odong has been injured in the explosion that occurred in Semuto sub-county today afternoon.
Daniel Ssepuuya the LC I chairman of Ssegalye village says that the bomb exploded between 3-4 pm on Friday after the children picked it from the unidentified place and started to play with it.
Ssepuuya explains that Kiwuwa died on the spot whereas his brother breathed his last upon reaching Nakaseke hospital. The nine-month-old has been rushed to Nakaseke hospital for treatment after he sustained injuries.
Ssepuuya notes that by the time of the blast, the mother of the children was away in Lugazi municipality looking after her sick mother whereas the father was at work in Luwero district.
The children were under the care of the grandparents who’d also left them alone at home. Ssepuuya says that the bomb is believed to have been left behind by one of the armies that fought in Luwero war of 1981-1986.
Policemen and Uganda People Defense Force personnel have since cordoned off the scene to start investigations in the matter. Isah Ssemwogerere, the Savannah regional police spokesperson confirmed the explosion but said he was waiting for details from the officers on the ground.
Police’s political commissar Asan Kasingye also tweeted about the incident.
” A jackfruit-like explosive given to children in Ssegalye village, Semuto sub-county, Nakaseke district, instantly kills Kiwuuwa Pius a physically handicapped child & Kiyingi Michael 14, who were playing together with another child Odong,” Kasingye tweeted.
Although the National Resistance Army (NRA) war against the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA) that ushered in the current government into power ended 35 years ago, several residents still die and others get injured when the bombs abandoned in bushes explode in the districts of Luwero and Nakaseke which were the epicenter of the guerrilla war.
Last year, four people were critically injured after a bomb exploded at Kalagala village in Wakyato sub county in Nakaseke district. The Nakaseke blast comes at the time when the country is on high tension over renewed bomb blasts believed to be set by terrorists.
At least two people were killed in bomb blasts at Digida pork joint at Komamboga, a suburb of Kampala city and in Swift bus at Lungala in Mpigi along Kampala – Masaka highway this week.