Ugandan minister’s daughter, driver killed in failed assassination bid

Gunmen sprayed bullets at a car carrying a Ugandan government minister in an attempted assassination on Tuesday, wounding the former army commander and killing his daughter and driver, an army spokeswoman and local media reports said.

Four attackers on motorcycles opened fire at a vehicle carrying General Katumba Wamala, the minister of works and transport, in the Kampala suburb of Kiasasi, local television station NBS reported.

Images circulating on social media showed Wamala with his mouth open, in apparent distress beside the car and his light-colored trousers splattered with blood. Social media images also showed bullet holes in a car window and casings on the ground.

“There was a shooting involving him … he is hurt and he’s been taken to the hospital, his driver was killed,” Army spokeswoman Brigadier Flavia Byekwaso told Reuters.

“He sustained injuries in both shoulders,” lawmaker Chris Baryomunsi told NBS. Wamala’s daughter, who was in the vehicle with him, was also killed, NBS reported.

There have been several unsolved assassinations and mysterious deaths of high profile officials in the east African country in recent years that have fuelled speculation about perpetrators and their motivations.

Victims have involved a lawmaker, a senior police officer, the country’s top public prosector, senior muslim leaders and others. Nearly all were committed by gunmen on motorcycles.

The attempt on Wamala took place in the same surbub in the capital where in 2017 gunmen on motorcycles sprayed bullets at a vehicle carrying a senior police officer. That police officer, Felix Kaweesa, was killed alongside his bodyguard and driver.

Wamala hails from the Baganda, the country’s largest ethnic group. Shortly before the attack, Wamala told his followers on Twitter: “I wish you a month of Happiness, Success, Peace, Prosperity, Good Health, and Wealth.”