Ugandan police issued a security alert on Friday amid warnings of a possible attack similar to the bloody assault by Somalia’s Shebab fighters in Kenya’s Westgate mall last month.
At least 67 people were massacred in the upmarket shopping centre in Nairobi when gunmen stormed the crowded complex on September 21, firing from the hip and hurling grenades at shoppers and staff.
“Stay alert and watch each other’s steps and activities, as we are still threatened by terror,” the Ugandan police said in a message.
It followed a message Tuesday from the US embassy in Uganda which said it was continuing “to assess reports that a Westgate-style attack may soon occur in Kampala”.
Security was stepped up around town, but the embassy said that there was no further information on the timing or location of any attack.
The Al-Qaeda linked Shebab insurgents claimed the Westgate attack, saying it was in revenge for Kenya military action against the group in southern Somalia.
Uganda also has troops in Somalia with the African Union force that is battling the Shebab, and has been attacked on home soil by the extremists before, in 2010 bomb blasts that killed 76 people.