Ugandan police have arrested another five people and discovered five more explosives around the capital, Kampala, in a bombing plot linked to an Islamist rebel group, the force said.

Based in the jungles of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) pledges allegiance to the militant movement, Islamic State (IS), and has, for years, hit civilians and military targets in both Congo and Uganda.

Ugandan authorities detained the first suspect with a bomb in a bag outside a packed church on Sunday, triggering a manhunt that led to a further five arrests and the retrieval of five more improvised explosive devices, police said.

The bombs were safely detonated, and items including nails, batteries and powder detonators were recovered, the police said in a statement late Monday.

“A threat environment still exists … which calls for vigilance as they (Ugandans) go shopping, travelling at places of worship, partying and celebrating, for any suspicious objects, unusual activity or behaviour,” police said.

Attacks blamed on the ADF and Islamic State include a massacre of 42 people, mainly students, in June this year and suicide bombs in 2021 that killed seven people.

(Reuters/NAN)