Today in History: LRA Massacre Gateway Bus Passengers at Atirir

What the report says

Nile Post reports that one of the worst attacks in the Lord’s Resistance Army insurgency in eastern Uganda took place on September 1, 2003, at Atirir Catholic Mission along the Soroti–Lira road in Katine Sub-county, Teso sub-region. The article says a Gateway Mercedes-Benz bus, registration UPL 402, was travelling from Namasale toward Soroti Town when it was ambushed about 12 miles north of Soroti at around 9:30 a.m. Armed attackers in military-style clothing reportedly shot at the bus’s tyres, forced it to stop, and then began attacking passengers.

According to the published account, passengers were ordered off one by one and killed with firearms, machetes and blunt objects. More than 20 civilians were reportedly killed at the scene. Among those named were Lt. Chris Ruyondo, the district internal security officer for Kaberamaido, Catholic priest Fr. Lawrence Oyuru, and Edward Ekere, headmaster of Kamidakan Primary School. The report also says some local officials and civil servants from Kaberamaido District were among the dead.

The article says the attackers looted luggage, set the bus on fire and that a few passengers escaped into nearby bushes, though some of those fleeing were also shot. It adds that the massacre shocked Soroti, triggered UPDF pursuit operations and temporary movement restrictions, and helped spur support for the Arrow Boys, a local civil defence force formed to resist LRA raids. The piece also notes that later photographs reportedly recovered from a killed rebel officer provided visual evidence of the attack.