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Ugandan police recovered a series of bombs in Lungujja suburbs, Rubaga division, Kampala, following the earlier discovery of a bomb on a suspected suicide bomber near Pastor Robert Kayanja’s Miracle Centre Cathedral. One suspect was arrested after a bomb he concealed detonated.

This came hours after another bomb was recovered from a suspected suicide bomber as he approached the check point at Pastor Robert Kayanja’s Miracle Centre Cathedral in Rubaga.

The police have confirmed that three other bombs were on Sunday recovered from a private home in Lungujja suburbs-Rubaga division in Kampala.

This came hours after another bomb was recovered from a suspected suicide bomber as he approached the check point at Pastor Robert Kayanja’s Miracle Centre Cathedral in Rubaga. 

One suspect, identified as Abdallahim Kintu, 28, was arrested and the bomb, which he had concealed in a food flask detonated.

Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesman, Patrick Onyango said after the arrest of Kintu, that the police stormed another rental room in Lungujja after a tip off that suspicious people were ere staying in the place.

The one roomed house was empty at the time of the raid.

People in the neighborhood told police that some youths who occupied the house had left in the morning.

Onyango explained that the bomb squad team searched the room and recovered three assembled bombs and other items used in assembling Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) or bombs. He said the police defused all the three bombs at the scene as the hunt for suspects was ongoing. 

Pastor Kayanja speaks out:

Pastor Robert Kayanja who was in the Church preaching during the second service at about 11:00am together with the worshippers learnt about the incident later when they were informed that a terrorist was trying to gain entrance to the Church when he was intercepted.

After the bomb was defused, Pastor Kayanja walked with his personal security towards the checkpoint, about 100 meters from the Church. He briefly interacted with the police including the KMP commander, Stephen Tanui and thanked them for the job well done.

Kayanja later spoke to journalists and thanked God for protecting the worshippers, saying they usually organize four services on Sunday, with high numbers of people.

He thanked God that nobody was hurt, saying if the bomb had exploded in the Church during service the entire roof would have come down, with many fatalities. “Even if it exploded in parking lot or near, there are always many people and it would still be bad,” he said.

He commended the police and all the security agencies involved for doing a good job and arresting the suspect, and appealed to the public to be vigilant because it seems terrorists had infiltrated the country.

“We again thank God that this man (suspected terrorist) did not enter our premises, you should therefore be vigilant wherever you are to avoid these terrorists,” he told the journalists, adding that this was not a mere talk, but a real threat to the country.

It is said the police asked the worshippers who were arriving at the Church to stop and remain a distance away before the bomb was defused, as most various entrances and exits were sealed off. People were also directed to remove their vehicles a distance before the bomb went off before it was defused. 

Onyango said on Saturday, September 02, 2023, another bomb in a black bag was defused at Nabukeera Plaza near the Old Taxi Park.