Big News Network.com Saturday 13th September, 2014
LAGOS/KAMPALA - Security forces in Uganda have uncovered a terrorist cell which they believe was planning an imminent attack, according to local police, while the Nigerian army says it has killed some 100 Boko Haram militants who attacked a key town in north-eastern Borno state.
The US embassy in Uganda said police had uncovered an Al-Shabab terrorist cell, but this has not yet been confirmed by Ugandan authorities. Police have instead only confirmed that several arrests have been made Saturday, with explosive material uncovered.
Authorities in the country are also stepping up security in case there are other terrorist cells active. "We're increasing patrols in the city, major towns and other vulnerable places," police spokesman Fred Enanga told reporters on Saturday.
The arrests come after the US embassy on Friday warned US citizens of an imminent police operation and urged residents to stay indoors.
The US embassy had warned the Ugandan government and other African states supporting an African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia of revenge attacks by Al-Shabab following a US airstrike that killed their leader Ahmed Abdi Godane on September 2nd.
Al-Shabab has targeted several African countries supporting the UN-backed government in Somalia, which it seeks to overthrow. In July, 2010, the group killed 76 football fans watching the FIFA World Cup in a bar in Ethiopia, while in September 2013, 63 people were gunned down in the Westgate shopping mall in Nigeria, the Kenyan capital.
The Ugandan arrests came after Nigeria on Friday confirmed that it had killed 100 Boko Haram militants after they tried to seize the key city of Maiduguri, the state capital of Borno State.
Government forces reportedly seized vehicles and ammunition from insurgents while securing Konduga, 35km from Maiduguri after a fierce three hour battle. The feared Boko Haram commander known only as Amir is believed to be among the dead.
The battle followed a warning by elders that Maiduguri was "surrounded" and it is believed that Konduga was going to be used as a staging ground for a major offensive on the city.
The Boko Haram militant group has been trying to establish a caliphate in Borno since 2009, while Al-Shabab seeks to establish a similar strict Sharia state in Somalia.
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