Gunmen kill Ugandan minister’s daughter and driver in ‘targeted shooting’

By Samson Ntale

The daughter of Ugandan government minister General Edward Katumba Wamala has been killed in a drive-by attack targeting the general outside his home in Kampala on Tuesday, Ugandan police said in a statement.

Police said the Minister of Works and Transport was leaving the residence in the upmarket Kampala suburb of Kisasi when unknown assailants on motorcycles opened fire.

The general, his 26-year-old daughter, his bodyguard and his driver were traveling in a military registered car when the attack unfolded, the police said.

His daughter and the driver were killed in the attack, while Katumba Wamala was hospitalized after sustaining gunfire injuries. The bodyguard was not hurt, the police said.

Police described the attack as a “targeted drive-by shooting,” saying the gunmen trailed the vehicle as it left Katumba Wamala’s home.

“The assailants, who were four in number, were riding on two motorcycles with concealed number plates, pulled up next to [General] Katumba Wamala’s car and shot several bullets that instantly killed Nantogo Brenda and Haruna Kayondo,” the police statement said.

Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni said in a tweet that he has spoken to Katumba Wamala twice on the phone and that he was being well taken care of.

He said the authorities already “have clues to the killers in General Katumba’s shooting.”

Videos posted on social media showed Katumba Wamala in a bloodied shirt with his bodyguard in a military uniform being helped on a motorcycle that rushed him to the hospital.

Katumba Wamala served as the Inspector General of Police of the Uganda Police Force from 2001 until 2005, being the first active Uganda People’s Defence Force soldier to serve as the head of the force.

His military carrier dates back to 1984 when he was a Second Lieutenant in the Uganda National Liberation Army that was eventually defeated by the National Resistance Army led by Museveni.