Unknown gunmen on Monday evening killed the officer-in-charge (OC) of investigations alongside a police constable and injured another in an attack on Busiika Police Post in Luweero District.
The Resident District Commissioner, Mr Richard Bwabye, who chairs the district security committee, said the assailants struck at around 7:30pm.
“I have received the sad news about the murder of two police officers at Busiika. We are yet to ascertain the cause and who the suspected assailants are,” he said.
The deceased were posthumously identified as Inspector of Police Moses Wagaluka, the OC CID, and police constable Alex Ongolo.
Mr Stephen Andama, another police constable, survived with bullet injuries and was reportedly taken to Bombo Military Hospital.
Witnesses said the attackers torched police files and fled with two guns grabbed from their victims.
Mr Richard Nyombi, the mayor of Busiika Town Council, said the suspects ordered owners of shops near the police post to close their businesses and head home before they opened fire.
They set several police case files and official documents alight before escaping.
Some witnesses estimated the assailants numbered eight, and said they took the direction of Nakifuma, Kayunga District, as they fled.
Their identities remain unknown. It wasn’t clear whether the killers took anything from their victims or not.
Scene of crime last night raced to secure the scene from being tampered with by curious onlookers and operatives from other security agencies joined police as the hunt for the assailants and expected investigations got underway.
According to gory photographs shared on social media, the officers were killed inside the post.
One of the deceased officers wore civilian attire while the uniformed victim appeared to have been shot in the head.
This is the second attack targeting police officers in Luweero in three months.
In July, thugs armed with machetes attacked a traffic police check-point in the district and hacked police constable Ronald Busingye to death.
Another constable Josephat Twinamasiko survived with serious injuries. The thugs also burnt the vehicles at the sentry. President Museveni vowed to catch the killers, who to-date have eluded capture and justice. Days later, a similar attack attempted on traffic police in Bugisu Sub-region was repulsed.
Attacks on police or their facilities in central region are on the increase. More than seven incidents against police officers have been reported in less than a year. Between November and December last year, assailants raided police stations and killed four police officers in Mityana and Kiboga districts.
Corporal Alfred Oketch, police constable Moses Kigongo, Cpl Francis Nsubuga and special police constable Paul Ddimba were killed in attacks on police stations.
The method employed by attackers in Mityana and Kiboga districts appeared to bear some similarity with yesterday raid on Busiika Police Post.
In both instances, they ordered nearby shop owners to close businesses and vanish quickly away killing their victims in what a police investigator said suggested the assailants want nobody to take a good look at them, which would aid their future identification.
