A total of 38 have been arrested in relation to a new wave of killings in Masaka sub-region.
The districts of Lwengo, Bukomansimbi, Sembabule and Masaka city have in recent months registered several incidences of murder orchestrated by unknown people who waylay others or sometimes break into houses in the night hacking occupants with blunt objects, however without asking for money or taking any household properties.
Records indicate that a total of 21 people have been brutally killed in the area within a period of six weeks, in an almost similar manner, a situation that has generated panic among communities.
The latest incident occurred on Thursday night, in Kimanya-Kabonera division when killers attacked Kisaaka village where they hit one person dead and left another in a critical condition. The deceased is identified as Maddie Mulindwa, while the surviving victim is known as Jimmy Ssemanda, who is still nursing deep cuts inflicted on him during the attacks.
Paul Nkore, the Greater Masaka Regional Police Commander says that they have so far arrested 38 people suspected to have a connection to the incidents. According to him, the manner in which the killings are executed points to a likelihood of organised crime, whose intent is still being investigated. But Nkore is hesitant to divulge detail about the suspects.
Nkore adds that they have also worked out a joint deployment plan with other security agencies, and resolved to intensify night patrols and reactivate the community vigilance mechanism through village councils as a way of improving their incident response and identifying all suspicious elements in the area.
Nkore has on the other hand noted that they are studying the trend under which such incidents have repeatedly occurred in the region.
Brigadier General Deus Sande, the Commandant of the Uganda People’s Defense Forces-UPDF mechanized brigade at Kissijagirwa who has also inspected the crime scenes said that they have high hope of apprehending the groups that are terrorizing the area.
However, Richard Paul Ssemakula, a resident of Bukunda cell in Kimanya-Kabenera division has said that many of the people in police custody are revellers who were arrested from bars as police conducted a swop in their area as they enforced curfew guidelines.
He challenges the security agencies to carry out comprehensive investigations into the insecurity other than zeroing on inconsequential groups arrested from bars.
