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Uganda bomb attacks linked to Somali al Qaeda Islamists
An unexploded suicide belt has been found by police in Uganda, followed by several arrests linked to the two bomb attacks which killed 74 football fans in a bar, while they were watching the World Cup final on television.
The deadly attacks on Sunday took place at a rugby club while viewing the match outdoors, and at an Ethiopian restaurant.
A government spokesperson said the unexploded suicide belt was found in the capital of Kampala, at a third site a day after the explosions.
"Arrests were made late yesterday after an unexploded suicide bomber's belt was found in the Makindye area," government spokesman Fred Opolot said.
Somali Islamists linked to al Qaeda said yesterday they carried out the attacks. Opolot did not say how many people were arrested, or where they were from. Such coordinated attacks have been a trademark of al Qaeda and linked groups.
Uganda’s opposition called today for the country’s peacekeepers to be withdrawn from Somalia. The Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party urged President Yoweri Museveni to pull the soldiers out and said it planned to withdraw if it won elections due in 2011.
"There is no peace to keep in Somalia and Uganda has no strategic interest there. We're just sacrificing our children for nothing," FDC spokesman Wafula Oguttu told Reuters.
The al Shabaab militants have threatened more attacks unless Uganda and Burundi withdrew their peacekeepers from the African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia (AMISOM).
