Eric Alyai, the local tourist guide, was tragically killed in Queen Elizabeth National Park. Suspected to be the work of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), this incident also claimed the lives of two foreign tourists.

Alyai was an employee of Gorillas Wildlife Safari.

The vehicle in which the trio was travelling, a Land Cruiser registration number UBF 303C, was burnt by the assailants. Such incidents are very rare in Uganda’s national parks.

Police said the ‘cowardly incident’ occurred between Lake Nyamununka and Kabatooro.

“The three were killed, and their safari vehicle burnt,” said Police in a statement on Tuesday.

“Our joint forces responded immediately upon receiving the information and are aggressively pursuing the suspected ADF rebels,” the law enforcement body emphasised.

Authorities are yet to identify the nationalities of the deceased tourists.

The incident is expected to send shockwaves across Uganda’s tourism industry.

ADF attacks

The killings come at a time when Ugandan security forces are hunting down ADF terrorists in their hideouts in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The Islamic-state-linked armed insurgent movement is blamed for a string of terrorist attacks in DRC and Uganda.

Last Friday, five armed ADF elements ambushed a trailer which was carrying onions from Kisoro to the Mpondwe Lhubiriha border and burnt it.

This happened at Katojo Junction along Bwera-Kinyamaseke-Kasese Road in Kasese District.

In June, the militants killed 41 people in an attack on a school in Kasese near the DRC border.

President Museveni on Sunday said security services had foiled an ADF bomb attack in Butambala, Central Uganda.

“We shall get them wherever they go: Congo, Uganda, South Africa, or wherever they go,” said Museveni.