Katumba Attack: Police Devise Robust Measures to Detect and Deny Assassins Another Opportunity

The Deputy Inspector General of Police, Maj Gen Paul Lokech says the shooting incident involving former Commander of Defense Forces, Gen Katumba Wamala on June 1 could have been prevented if there was “a more thorough situation awareness.”

The shooting incident that left Katumba’s daughter Brenda Wamala Nantongo and his driver, Haruna Kayondo dead, occured a few minutes to 8am at Kisaasi-Kisota road when unknown assailants sprayed his vehicle registration number H4DF 2138 with bullets. He survived with bullet wounds and his bodyguard was not injured.

On Tuesday while addressing journalists, Lokech said that the attackers some nearly an hour within the same locality and that a quicker response by security could have either prevented the attack or countered the attackers.

“The assailants spent about 55 minutes in the Kisaasi-Kulambiro- Bukoto area, after the attack. A more thorough situational awareness could have prevented the attack and or countered the attackers,” Maj Gen Lokech says.

“Our teams on foot, motorcycle squads and 999 patrols were not alert. This affected our response in countering the assailants, making cut-off points to confine them within the locality for arrest and adequately securing the scene of crime and its surrounding,” he adds.

Lokech who described the incident as “tragic and shocking to the country”, noted that police has since put in place robust measures to prevent occurance of related incidents.

“It was a wake-up call and as security we took effort to diagnose the securily failures in the prevention of the attack, by the hostile actors,” says the Deputy IGP.

“We have firmly reviewed the incident and come up with a very robust program to counter and detect surveillance on such hostile actors to

purposely deny them opportunity to attack again. All our standby teams, mobile squads, advance teams, 999 patrols, motorcycle squads and other security elements must be extra vigilant and effectively coordinate their duties fully,” he adds.

He said security is doing everything within their means, to find the perpetrators of the attack noting that whoever was involved in the planning, preparation and execution of the double murder and attempted assassination will be tracked down and arrested.

Lokech said that they have so far received a number of descriptions of the suspects, “but will not be releasing any details for the time being.”

He said the task team is conducting very objective and thorough investigations and that the country will be updated once investigations are completed.