Gunmen have attacked and wounded Uganda’s former army commander, killing his daughter and driver in an assassination attempt.
Four attackers on motorcycles opened fire at a vehicle carrying General Katumba Wamala, the minister of works and transport, in the Kampala suburb of Kiasasi on Tuesday, local television station NBS reported.
“There was a shooting involving him … he is hurt and he’s been taken to the hospital, his driver was killed,” army spokeswoman Brigadier Flavia Byekwaso said.
Wamala’s daughter, who was in the vehicle with him, was also killed, NBS reported.
Images circulating on social media showed Katumba in apparent distress outside an SUV, his light-coloured trousers splattered with blood.
Social media images also showed bullet holes in a car window and casings on the ground.
There have been several assassinations and mysterious deaths of high profile officials in the east African country in recent years, fuelling speculation about perpetrators and their motivations.
Victims have involved a lawmaker, a senior police officer, the country’s top public prosecutor, senior Muslim leaders and others.
The attempt on Katumba was orchestrated in the same suburb in the capital where in 2017 gunmen on motorcycles sprayed bullets on a vehicle carrying a senior police officer.
That police officer, Felix Kaweesa, was killed along with his bodyguard and driver.
