Uganda says hunting down killers of honeymoon couple

Uganda said Wednesday it was hunting down the attackers who killed a honeymooning couple and their guide on safari in one of the country's famed national parks.

President Yoweri Museveni condemned what he described as a "cowardly act" and vowed the assailants would pay with their lives.

Police said a Briton and a South African were killed along with their Ugandan guide in Tuesday's attack, and blamed a feared armed militia based in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The trio were targeted by gunmen in Queen Elizabeth National Park in southwestern Uganda and their vehicle set ablaze, police and park officials said.

"It was a cowardly act on the part of the terrorists attacking innocent civilians and tragic for the couple who were newlyweds and visiting Uganda on their honeymoon," Museveni said on X, formerly Twitter.

"Of course, these terrorists will pay with their own wretched lives."

Police blamed the attack on the IS-affiliated Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) that is accused of slaughtering thousands of civilians in the violence-ravaged eastern DRC.

Ugandan military spokesman Felix Kulayigye said a joint army, police and wildlife authority force "has deployed all resources, both technical and physical in pursuit of these terrorists and will ensure they account for their heinous acts".

Britain issued a warning to citizens against travelling to the park while France also told its nationals to be prudent.

Kulayigye urged the population "to be vigilant and cooperate with our forces" but also sought to assure tourists it was an "isolated incident" and that Uganda remained a safe country.

The popular park is rich in wildlife across its 700 square miles (1,800 square kilometres), including lions with an unusual ability to climb trees.

'Terrorists will be defeated'

Museveni called on Uganda's army and other security forces to ensure "these mistakes do not happen again and that the ADF is wiped out".

"The terrorists will be defeated like (Joseph) Kony was defeated," he added, referring to the fugitive leader of the notorious Lord's Resistance Army, which terrorised parts of central Africa for more than three decades.

Tuesday's attack came after Museveni said Sunday that police had foiled an ADF bomb plot on churches 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the capital Kampala.

Earlier that day, the veteran leader also said Ugandan forces had carried out a series of air strikes against ADF positions in DRC and claimed a number of militants were killed.

He warned that "the terrorists are running from Congo... and re-entering Uganda and trying to commit some random terrorist acts".

Queen Elizabeth Park shares a border with DRC and its renowned Virunga National Park, a habitat for rare mountain gorillas, and where armed groups are believed to operate.

In 2019, a US tourist and her safari guide were kidnapped by four gunmen during an evening game drive through the Ugandan park. They were recovered unharmed after a ransom was paid.

The ADF is historically a Ugandan rebel coalition whose biggest group comprised Muslims opposed to Museveni.

Established in eastern DRC in 1995, the group became the deadliest of scores of outlawed forces in the deeply troubled region.

It has been blamed for massacres, kidnappings and looting, with a death toll estimated in the thousands.

In June, ADF fighters were blamed for killing 42 people including 37 students at a high school in western Uganda close to the DRC border in the worst such attack in the country in more than a decade.

Tourism is a top foreign exchange earner in Uganda, contributing almost 10 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) last year, according to government figures.

Uganda's wildlife officials said all parks will remain open despite Tuesday's attack.