The Islamic State terrorists strike again

Uganda: Dozens dead in attack on school near Congo border

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Authorities said 41 people were killed when an Islamic State-aligned group attacked a school in the nation's west. 

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Forty-one people, including many students were burned, shot or hacked to death in the attack

At least 41 people were killed in an attack on a school in western Uganda, a local mayor said on Saturday.

According to police, the Lhubirira secondary school in Mpondwe was raided by members of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF)— a Ugandan group based in eastern Congo that is aligned with the Islamic State — late on Friday.

The school is situated 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.

A police statement described how a dormitory was set on fire and a food store looted in the attack.

The police did not expand on the nature of the attack or how the victims died, but a reporter for the Daily Monitor newspaper described how some of the bodies were burned beyond recognition.

Mayor Selevest Mapoze says those killed included 38 students, one guard and two members of the local community who were shot outside the school.

Some students reportedly taken hostage

The Daily Monitor cited a senior military official as saying that some of the students had been abducted.

The military official said the boys had been locked into one dormitory, which was set ablaze, while the girls were hacked with machetes in another dormitory. Some of the victims were shot dead.

In an earlier tweet, police described how they had retrieved 25 bodies. and that eight people were in a critical condition in the hospital.