Police: Somali, Ugandan suicide bombers carried out Kampala blast

(Tf.SF ) Kampala - Two suicide bombers, one Somali and one Ugandan, carried out the twin bombings that killed 76 people in the Ugandan capital Kampala seven days ago, police said Sunday. Somalia's Islamist insurgent group al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the blasts, which ripped through a rugby ground and an Ethiopian restaurant as football fans watched the World Cup final. 'Our experts have recognized the facial features of the suspected suicide bombers from photographs of their heads from the scenes of the blasts,' Major General Kale Kaihura, police inspector general, told reporters. 'One of the suspected suicide bombers was a Somali tribesman and another could be Ugandan,' he added. The police chief told reporters that FBI experts flown in from the United States helped identify the unclaimed bodies of the suspected bombers. Some 20 people have been arrested in connection with the attacks. Interpol have released photo reconstructions of what the two suspected bombers may have looked like, at Uganda's request, in the hope that somebody may recognise them. Al-Shabaab, which is waging a bloody insurgency against a Somali government backed by Ugandan and Burundian peacekeepers, said it carried out the bombing in revenge for Uganda's role in the Horn of Africa nation. It has warned more attacks will follow. Uganda's president, Yoweri Museveni, wants to increase the African Union peacekeeping force from around 5,000 to 20,000 troops and change the mandate to go after the insurgents .He is expected to push at an AU summit this week in the Ugandan capital. The al-Shabaab insurgency grew out of a United States-backed Ethiopian invasion of Somalia in December 2006 to kick out the Islamist regime in control at the time. Security sources say foreign fighters and terrorists are flocking to the lawless nation to set up training camps and plan attacks. Al-Shabaab claims it has links with al-Qaeda. Somalia has been immersed in violence since the 1991 ouster of Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad barre.
20 Arrested Over Attacks in Uganda