When the rebels attacked Kasese district-based Lhubirira Secondary School in Mpondwe town council under the cover of darkness on Friday night, the school director's wife, Masika Brenda is one of the attack survivors.

She says she survived being killed by the rebels because she was breastfeeding.

In her account, when the rebels entered her house, which is also within the school compound, they were forced to shoot the lock of the bedroom door.

The rebels found Masika breastfeeding her baby in an attempt to muffle its cries so that they would, hopefully, leave the area without raiding her bedroom.  

On seeing her breastfeeding, the rebels told her that their beliefs discourage them from killing breastfeeding women.

Instead, the rebels chased her and her children from the house and set it ablaze.

The rebels made off with three sacks of posho and two of beans from Masika's store.

Police say the attack orchestrated by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels on Friday night,  also saw a dormitory burnt and food store looted.

Lhubirira Secondary School is located about 2kms, from the Uganda-DRC border. 

Police spokesperson Fred Enanga said in a statement on Saturday morning that a hot pursuit by the Uganda People's Defence Forces and the Police was ongoing, towards Virunga National Park.

"We do offer our deepest condolences to the families of those who have been killed and offer our prayers and thoughts to those who have been wounded," the Police spokesperson said and added that more details would be availed in due course.

Previous ADF attacks

December 12, 2022:

Several ADF rebels sneaked into Uganda suspected to be 40 in number, crossed from DRC to Uganda in Ntoroko district via River Semuliki. but were repulsed by the Uganda People's Defence Forces.

The ADF rebels were first spotted by the civilian population in Bweramule sub-county.

These immediately shared information with security, which prompted UPDF to respond swiftly, killed 17 rebels and captured 13 of them.

15 guns, two walkie-talkies and some improvised explosive devices were recovered from the rebels.

April 7, 2023:

ADF rebels killed 20 people in easter DRC near the village of Enebula.

January 15, 2023:

 A bomb killed at least 10 people and wounded 39 others after ripping through a church in eastern DR Congo, in an attack blamed on ADF.

June 8, 1998:

 ADF rebels had raided Kichwamba Technical Institute in Kabarole, burning 80 students to death and abducting more than 100.

ADF rebels gained a foothold in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in the 1990s after they were chased from Uganda. The rebels have since been accused of killing thousands of civilians, becoming the deadliest of scores of outlawed forces in the deeply troubled region.

Since 2019, some ADF attacks in eastern DRC have been claimed by the Islamic State, which describes the group as its local offshoot, the Islamic State Central Africa Province.

More visible and more lethal
In 2021, the United States labelled the ADF a "foreign terrorist organisation" with links to the Islamic State group. The militia is active mainly in North Kivu and neighbouring Ituri province.

The same year, a joint Congolese-Ugandan military operation began targeting the ADF inside the DRC.

But attacks have continued.

A report by independent experts for the UN Security Council, released in December, said the ADF had "continued its geographic expansion" despite the Congolese-Ugandan military operation, killing at least 370 civilians since April 2022.

It also warned that the ADF was changing tactics: opting for "more visible and more lethal" bomb attacks in urban areas.

In April last year, for example, a woman detonated a suicide vest in a bar in North Kivu's capital Goma, according to independent UN experts. Six people died in the attack and 16 more were wounded.

US support

The United States government in February 2023 indicated that ADF remains an unresolved threat to regional security.

US Ambassador to Uganda Natalie Brown in the same month reiterated the US’ unwavering support to the efforts aimed at eliminating the security threat posed by the ADF not only to Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), but the entire region of east and central Africa.

She told reporters in Kampala that the concerted regional efforts to eliminate the ADF and other rebel groups based in the eastern DRC, were critically important in ending human suffering and fostering economic development.