KAMPALA, Uganda – The Ugandan forces captured a key leader and bomb-making expert of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebel group, the Ugandan military announced on Sunday.
Anywari Al Iraq, a Ugandan national, was apprehended in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) jungles, a stronghold for the ADF. The military, known as the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF), said in a statement that the operation also resulted in the rescue of nine people, including children, from the Ituri province in eastern Congo.
Authorities recovered “an assortment of improvised explosive device (IED) making materials” during the raid, further crippling the group’s ability to carry out deadly attacks.
The ADF, initially a Ugandan rebellion, has operated from the DRC since the late 1990s. In 2019, it pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (ISIS) and has been blamed for numerous attacks on civilians in recent years, including a horrific triple suicide bombing in Kampala, Uganda’s capital, in November 2021, which claimed seven lives.
Uganda launched a joint military operation with the DRC in 2021 to combat the ADF insurgency.
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