''I detonated 2010 Kyaddondo bomb''

By Vision Reporters

KAMPALA - A prosecution witness stunned court when he revealed that he was the person who detonated one of the bombs at the Kyaddondo Rugby Club on July 11, 2010.

Edris Nsubuga, 35, the second state witness, was giving evidence in the trial of the 13 men accused of carrying out the bombings that claimed 76 lives and left many nursing serious injuries.

Revelers were on July 11, 2010, watching the World Cup final game between Spain and Holland during the tournament that was being played in South Africa. Another bomb went off at the Ethiopian Restaurant in Kabalagala, a city suburb.

On the same night, a bomb that had been planted at Makindye House in the city suburb of Makindye, was defused before it could explode.

Nsubuga, who pleaded guilty in September 2011 and is now a state witness, is serving a 25-year jail term.

Thirteen men are on trial before the International War Crimes Court in Kampala over the July 2010 Kampala twin bombings. The first to testify in the trial on Monday was Mahmoud Mugisha, also a terror convict and a self-confessed conspirator who turned state witness.
 

Defence lawyer Caleb Alaka talks to a suspect in court

Hours before the bombings

In his testimony, Nsubuga said he surveyed Kyaddondo Rugby Club on July 10, 2010 and later met with a Kenyan and Somali at Para zone at Najjanankumbi, Kampala, the next day on July 11, 2010, a few hours before the bombings.

“I travelled on a bodaboda, with a suicide bomber at about 9:30pm to Kyaddondo Rugby Club while Hassan Luyima went to Ethiopian Village and Makindye,” Nsubuga said.

Entering Kyaddondo

Nsubuga testified that when he arrived at Kyaddondo, he found laxity in security and easily entered the club.

He said he left the suicide bomber at the entrance, which was about two hundred metres from the scene of the blast. He told court that he moved with his laptop bag, which contained the explosives and placed it on a table without being noticed.

“As I identified where to put the bag, there was a commotion at the gate and I took advantage of that confusion to sneak Musa in (suicide bomber),” he narrated.

Nsubuga said they agreed with the suicide bomber that the explosives would be detonated at 11:15pm, using a Nokia phone (3510i). He said as the time to detonate the explosives approached, he got terrified.

“I called a friend and asked him how the match was going because I was nervous,” he recalled. “We chatted for about three minutes and I hang up. Shortly after, I heard a blast and I also gathered courage and detonated the device,” Nsubuga revealed.

After the blasts

Nsubuga said after the blast, he hired a bodaboda that took him to the Old Taxi Park. Along the way, he removed the sim-card from the phone and destroyed it.

“As for the phone, I tried to break it, but failed. I went back home and dropped it in the pit latrine,” he said.
 

In front seats are terrorism suspects allegedly involved in the twin bombings of Kyaddondo and Ethiopian Village in 2010

At home, Nsubuga monitored the news on NTV, which was broadcasting breaking news about the explosions that had killed several people.

“A friend called and asked me where I was and whether I had heard about the bomb blasts. I told him I was aware. He didn’t know that I was the one who had done it,” Nsubuga said.

He added that after the bombings, he continued communicating via email with Isa Luyima and Hassan Haruna Luyima.

But later, Nsubuga was arrested as he tried to bail Muhamood Mugisha out of Police custody. Mugisha had been arrested over passport forgery, but was later found to be linked to the bombings. Nsubuga later pleaded guilty and was convicted. He is currently serving 25 years in jail.

How the bomb materials were brought into the country

Nsubuga told court that the explosives used in the bombings were first kept at his home in Najjanankumbi.

He narrated that the bomb materials were delivered to his home on May 9, 2010 at about 7:00pm. Nsubuga said he vividly remembers the day, since there was an English Premier League soccer game between Chelsea and Wigan.

The items, according to Nsubuga, were delivered in a green Toyota Land Cruiser, driven by Nyamandondo, whom he met for the first time, and was in the company of Isa Luyima.

“Isa Luyima told me he had received some items from Kenya, and that they were for domestic use. He requested me to keep them for him. I assured him that I had no problem with it,” Nsubuga stated.

Nsubuga said the items, in a heavy travel bag, were stored in one of his rooms, and that he only got to know the nature of the items at the start of July 2010, when Isa Luyima visited him.

The items included a screw driver, a reading metre, explosives, vests used by suicide bombers and a bulk of other items he could not remember.

Friendship with the Luyima brothers
 

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Defence lawyers led  by Caleb Alaka going to consult the 2010 Terrorism suspects at the High Court

Nsubuga narrated that his friendship with the Luyima brothers started in 2004, when Isa and a friend, a one Mpanga, were librarians at Kampala International University.

Nsubuga said at the time, he owned a boutique at Pioneer Mall in the city centre, and had constant interaction with Muzafar. He stated that Isa and Hassan, always frequented the mall to visit Muzafar who ran a mobile phone shop.

Nsubuga stated that in late January 2010, Isa returned from Nairobi, together with his (Isa’s) Kenyan wife. He said Isa intimated to him that he was planning to relocate to Uganda, since Kenyan security officials had trailed him and linked him to the Mujahedeen (fighter).

Nsubuga disclosed that prior, in August 2009, Isa had confided in him that he was a Mujahedeen, and the two had discussed the holy war in Afghanistan and Somalia.

During their discussions, Nsubuga intimated to Isa that he had serious financial constraints. But Isa vanished in February 2010, only to reappear in April 2010.

Nsubuga said Isa told him that his boss in Kenya had instructed a contact in Uganda to get him (Isa) a house in the city suburb of Nakulabye.

Nsubuga later learnt from Kalule after the bombings that the contact Isa had talked about was Mugisha.

He narrated that they visited many places in the city suburb of Kabalagala, to identify popular and potential target areas frequented by whites. Nsubuga said they visited Capital Pub, Ethiopian Village and later Lugogo rugby grounds, where they observed that security was minimal.

He said Isa told him he was getting frustrated by the demands of his colleagues who had arrived from Kenya and who wanted the bombs to go off as soon as the opportunity arose.

But Isa’s game plan was to take his time and plan adequately. Isa had also planned to be in Kenya by the time of the bombings. Nsubuga explained that when Nyamandondo delivered the items, he used a pseudo name Kato, to book into Niagara Hotel on Entebbe Road, where he spent a night and departed for Kenya the next day.


Prosecution team: Headed by acting assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Susan Okalany and includes John Baptist Asiimwe, Thomas Jatiko, Rachael Bikhole as well as Lino Anguzu.

Defence team: Caleb Alaka, Onyango Owor, Yunus Kasirivu, Julius Galisonga, Evans Ochieng and Annette Badda.

The suspects: Hussein Hassan Agad, Idris Magondu, Hassan Haruna Luyima, Abubakari Batemyetto, Yahya Suleiman Mbuthia, Habib Suleiman Njoroge, Omar Awadh Omar, Mohammad Hamid Sulaiman, Seleman Hijar Nyamandondo, Mohammad Ali Mohammad, Dr Ismael Kalule, Muzafar Luyima and Isa Luyima.