The mayor of Ugandan border town where suspected rebels attacked a school says 41 bodies have been recovered, including 38 students.
Police said fighters from the Allied Democratic Forces militia attacked Lhubiriha Secondary School in Mpondwe in western Uganda, near the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, burning a dormitory and looting food late on Friday.
Mayor Selevest Mapoze said those killed include 38 students, one guard and two members of the local community who were shot outside the school, the AP news agency reports.
The army and police units were pursuing the attackers in the direction of Virunga National Park, which lies over the border in DR Congo where the ADF is based, defence spokesperson Felix Kulayigye said on Twitter.
'Pursuing enemy'
"Our forces are pursuing the enemy to rescue those abducted and destroy this group," Kulayigye said .
Earlier on, national police spokesman Fred Enanga said 25 bodies was recovered from the school and transferred to Bwera Hospital - referring to a nearby town.
"Also recovered are eight victims, who remain in critical condition at Bwera hospital." Enanga said.
Police did not expand on the nature of the attack or how the victims died.
Killing thousands
Originally insurgents in Uganda, the ADF gained a foothold in eastern DR Congo in the 1990s and have since been accused of killing thousands of civilians.
Since 2019, some ADF attacks in eastern DRC have been claimed by Daesh otherwise known as the Islamic State group, which describes the fighters as its local offshoot, in central African region.
