Uganda Airport Alert
Police on Monday issued a terror alert for a planned attack on the Entebbe international airport by al-Shabaab.
The alert follows an intelligence report to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kale Kayihura that terrorists were targeting the airport and other key government installations, deputy police spokesperson Polly Namaye told press conference in Kampala.
“We have received intelligence information that terrorists are targeting the airport and other key government installations and we want to remind the public to be
alert and vigilant,” Namaye told the media at police headquarters in Naguru.
Namaye said police had increased its deployment at the airport and policing it as a high-risk area. This is the first terror alert that police has issued since the beginning of the year. Between 2012 and 2015, police issued
26 terror alerts to the public all of which have been associated to the Somalia-based al- Shabaab terror group. However, there was controversy in 2014 when the US embassy in Kampala issued travel advisories based on police intelligence that there was a specific threat to attack
Entebbe International airport by an unknown group. Police later dismissed the alert and there were no incidents reported during the time. Al-Shabaab insurgents have claimed responsibility for several attacks in the region over the years.
They include the 2010 attacks that claimed 70 lives at Kyadondo Rugby grounds in Lugogo and Ethiopian Village restaurant, Kabalagala. Uganda has the biggest number of troops as part of the African Mission in Somalia where they are battling the same group destabilizing the horn of Africa country.