Twin Blasts In Uganda Capital Kill Two, Injure “Scores” – Local TV

Two blasts in the centre of Uganda’s capital killed at least two people and set several cars on fire on Tuesday, local television reported.

NTV Uganda reported that “scores” had been injured and that there had been two blasts – one very close to parliament and one near the central police station. Parliament was being evacuated, the television station reported.

An NTV Uganda reporter said he saw two bodies. The cause of the blasts was not immediately clear.

“First responders included Red Cross personnel who were using fire extinguishers to curb the fire on Parliamentary Avenue,” the station said in on Twitter.

Ugandan soldiers are fighting al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab insurgents in Somalia as part of an African Union peacekeeping force. Al Shabaab has carried out several deadly bombings in Uganda.

Last month, Islamic State made its first claim of responsibility for a blast in Uganda. That bomb – packed with shrapnel – killed a waitress at a restaurant.

Also last month, Ugandan police said a suicide bomber had exploded on a bus, killing himself and injuring others.

Ugandan officials have been urging vigilance in the wake of a string of bomb explosions in recent weeks.

One person was killed and at least seven others wounded in an explosion at a restaurant in a suburb of Kampala on Oct. 23. The Allied Democratic Forces, an affiliate of the Islamic State Group in central Africa, claimed responsibility for that attack. That group has long been opposed to the rule of longtime President Yoweri Museveni, a U.S. security ally.