Bomb Kills 6 Children In Refugee Camp

By Francis Otucu

Police in Adjumani district is investigating an incident of bomb explosion which killed 6 children and injured 5 at Maji ll Refugee Settlement. It is alleged that a group of children residing at Maji ll Refugee Settlement went to the bush on a playing spree and picked an object which they did not know properly, tried to cut it through using Panga and incidentally, the object exploded killing 6 of them, injuring 5.

This happened on February 16, 2021 at about 2pm. Upon receiving information from Officer in charge of Maji ll police station, a team of officers including detectives led by DPC Adjumani rushed to the scene to follow up the matter.

Upon arrival at the scene, victims were immediately evacuated to Maji ll health center for first aid, relevant statements were recorded to guide investigations, pieces of panga and some particles of fragments were recovered and exhibited. 3 bodies from the scene were retrieved. One other body was picked from Maji Health Centre where the victim had been rushed before being pronounced dead. The bodies were conveyed to Adjumani Hospital for postmortem. Seven victims initially rushed to Maji health Centre have been transfered to Adjumani hospital for further treatment. However, two of them died, bringing the number of the dead to six. All the 6 bodies are at Adjumani Hospital pending postmortem and have been identified as: 1.Joseph Otto, 6
2. Drago James, 9
3. Duku Emmanuel, 7
4. Amaruma Isaac, 11
5. Edema Thomas, 10
6. Mandre Justine 14,
The five victims currently on treatment at Adjumani hospital are:
1. Wani Jonathan, 10
2. Abao James, 7
3. Andruga Dominic, 14
4. Bazio Joyce, 12

According to regional police spokesperson, Josephine Angucia, further inquiries into the matter under Adjumani CRB 97/2021 will continue.
Angucia said priliminary observation indicates that these bombs could have been left behind in the bushes by Kony rebels in the early 2000.