Ugandan minister survives assassination attempt

Kampala, Jun 1 (EFE).- Uganda’s Transport Minister, Edward Katumba Wamala, narrowly escaped an assassination attempt that left his daughter and bodyguard dead, police confirmed Tuesday.

Gunmen trailed Wamala before they opened fire at his vehicle shortly after he left his home in northern Kampala, according to eyewitnesses.

Wamala was taken to hospital for treatment in the Ugandan capital. Lawmaker Chris Baryomunsi told local media the official’s condition was stable.

Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni wished Wamala a quick recovery and called the perpetrators “pigs.”

“The bodyguard should not have shot in the air. He should have shot to kill. We could be having a dead terrorist instead of scaring away the terrorists. His shooting saved Gen. Katumba by scaring the criminals away,” he said on Twitter.

Wamala served as the Chief of Defense Forces and the Inspector General of Police, before he was appointed as transport minister in 2019.

In March 2017, Uganda’s police spokesman Andrew Felix Kaweesi was shot dead, along with two of his bodyguards, during a similar attack in the capital Kampala.

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