'Smeared Blood Of Dead Colleagues In Mouth Ears Head': How Student Survived Attack On Uganda School
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A student from Uganda’s Mpondwe town recalled how he miraculously survived a night-time attack on his school dormitory by suspected Islamist rebels. Julius Isingoma said he covered himself in the blood of his dead colleagues to hide himself from the perpetrators as 40 people were killed in the attack. "I smeared the blood of my dead colleagues in my mouth, ears and on my head so that the attackers would think I was dead," Julius told BBC at Bwera General Hospital in Kasese district.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Of the 40 people that were killed in the attacks, 37 of them were students, at the secondary school in the small town of Mpondwe on Friday night, as per the BBC report. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Julius said the attackers, which he could not identify, were equipped with arms and launched their assault at 10pm local time. As they came to the boys’ dormitory, the students locked it sensing danger.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"When they couldn't open the door they hurled a bomb inside the dormitory and then used hammers and axes to break down the door," he said.</span></p> <p><strong>ALSO READ: <a title="'Biggest Blow Is Yet To Come', Says Ukraine As It Claims To Recapture Eighth Village From Russia" href="https://ift.tt/x24frU7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">'Biggest Blow Is Yet To Come', Says Ukraine As It Claims To Recapture Eighth Village From Russia</a></strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Julius was among the many students who stood guard near the door shielding it and were shot dead when the militants barged into the dormitory. He quickly climbed atop a bunk bed, removed some of the wooden planks of the ceiling, and jumped inside to hide.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As he helplessly watched his colleagues being brutally murdered, he was overwhelmed with the smoke that erupted after militants set fire to the mattress. “I dropped back down into the dormitory with a thud," he said.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The militants came back after hearing the thud and this was the moment when Julius knew he had to come out of the attack alive.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"I lay next to the bloodied bodies of my friends and thought very fast. Then I smeared a lot of blood into my ears, mouth and on my head and when the militants came, they checked my hand for a pulse and left," Julius said.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni blamed the attack on the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), adding that they were "possibly working with other criminals because I hear that school had some wrangles". </span></p> <p><strong>ALSO READ: <a title="4 Dead In Shooting In US State Of Idaho, 1 Detained" href="https://ift.tt/rTWifXl" target="_blank" rel="noopener">4 Dead In Shooting In US State Of Idaho, 1 Detained</a></strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Without giving other details, Museveni vowed to hunt down the militants in their hide-outs across the border in the Democratic Republic of Congo.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The ADF has however not yet commented on the incident. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The outfit was formed in the 1990s and took up arms against Mr Museveni, alleging persecution of the minority Muslims population. In 2016, its leader pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">But it was not until April 2019 that IS first acknowledged its activity in the area, when it claimed an attack on army positions near the border with Uganda. This statement marked the announcement of IS's "Central Africa Province" (Iscap).</span></p>
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