Police in Uganda said they foiled a bomb attack on Sunday on a cathedral in Kampala and detained a man accused of trying to detonate an explosive in a crowd of worshippers. Hundreds of congregants were evacuated from the Rubaga Miracle Centre Cathedral in the capital city after a man tried to enter the grounds carrying an explosive, said police spokesman, Patrick Onyango.
“We have carried out a controlled detonation of the improvised explosive device, which was made of nails, a motorcycle battery, a charger, and a telephone handset, which was to be used in the attack,” he told reporters outside the cathedral. He said police trailed the man after receiving a tip about a possible attack on a house of worship, and discovered the bomb inside his backpack when he was stopped and searched.
The cathedral was cordoned off, and sniffer dogs and bomb squad officers were sent to comb the expansive grounds, but no further threat was found. Its high-profile pastor, Robert Kayanja, said that “the Lord has saved us from death.”.
Authorities were hunting three other men also believed to have been sent on similar bombing missions elsewhere in Uganda, police said.
The motives were unclear, but the Islamic State (IS)-linked Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) have previously carried out deadly bomb attacks in Uganda.
ADF was originally a Ugandan rebel group but was routed more than two decades ago and fled into the jungles of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo where it has since been based.
The detainee, named Kintu Ibrahim, was detained as he was about to enter a Pentecostal church, Lubaga Miracle Centre, in the Lubaga suburb of south Kampala.
Police spokesperson Patrick Onyango told journalists that security personnel had picked up intelligence about attacks planned on places of worship and that they had tracked Ibrahim.
“We got information that one terrorist had already been sent out to go and carry out a mission, so they followed the terrorist,” he said.
Onyango said the suspect had a bag with an improvised explosive device which police detonated safely. During interrogation, Onyango said, he confessed he had three accomplices who had also been sent to carry out similar attacks.
“He’s helping us locate those people,” Onyango said, adding that the suspect was being held on terrorism related charges.