Uganda school attack survivor ‘smeared blood of dead colleagues’ on himself to play dead

‘I lay next to the bloodied bodies of my friends and thought very fast’

Relatives of victims of the Mpondwe Lhubiriha Secondary School gather at the Bwera General Hospital Mortuary, Kasese, on 18 June 2023 (AFP via Getty Images)

A student in Uganda said he smeared himself with the blood of his dead colleagues to survive a night-time attack on his school dormitory that lasted for many hours.

At least 37 pupils and three adults were killed in the assault at Lhubiriha Secondary School in the town of Mpondwe in western Uganda last Friday that was allegedly carried out by Allied Democratic Forces, a rebel group with ties to Isis.

Six people were abducted, said authorities.

Julius Isingoma was among the six who managed to survive the massacre that lasted for several hours. “I smeared the blood of my dead colleagues in my mouth, ears and on my head so that the attackers would think I was dead,” he told BBC News.

The incident took place around 10pm local time. The students, on realising they were in danger, locked the door of the boys’ dormitory.

“When they couldn’t open the door they hurled a bomb inside the dormitory and then used hammers and axes to break down the door,” he said.

Several of those inside were soon gunned down and hacked to death.

Mr Isingoma, who managed to remove some planks of the ceiling and jumped inside, saw his colleagues being murdered and their mattresses set on fire.

“I was overwhelmed by the smoke and dropped back down into the dormitory with a thud,” he said. The sound made the assailants return to the room.

Uganda security forces are seen at the premises of an attack in Mpondwe, Uganda, on 18 June 2023 at the Mpondwe Lhubiriha Secondary School (AFP via Getty Images)

“I lay next to the bloodied bodies of my friends and thought very fast. Then I smeared a lot of blood into my ears, mouth and on my head and when the militants came, they checked my hand for a pulse and left,” he told the British broadcaster.

While Ugandan authorities blamed the attack on five members of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), the group has so far not issued any statement or claimed responsibility. The group was designated a terrorist organisation by the US in 2021 and the UN sanctioned it in 2014.

Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni described the attack as “criminal, desperate, terrorist and futile” in a statement on Sunday.

“Condolences on the death of the 37 students of Nyabugaando Peter Hunter Secondary School at the hands of the terrorists of ADF, possibly working with other criminals, because I hear that school had some wrangles about it,” he tweeted.

“I extend condolences to the families and the whole country. This new atrocity by the elements of the ADF is criminal, desperate, terrorist and futile. It will not save them.”

He also said he is deploying more troops to the western part of the country, across Uganda’s border with Congo, to pursue the arrest.

Local police have arrested 20 people for allegedly helping the Isis-linked group, authorities told CNN.