Man stabs 4 children to death at Uganda kindergarten

Uganda police officers stand at the crime scene after a man killed four children in a machete attack at the Gaba Early Childhood Development Program nursery school in Kampala, Uganda on Thursday.

Photo: AP Four children were stabbed to death on Thursday at a kindergarten in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, police said.

The male suspect, in his thirties, gained access by posing as a parent before attacking children aged around two and three with a knife, police said. “We confirm a tragic incident at the Ggaba Early Childhood Development Program school in Makindye Division, Kampala City, where a male suspect brutally stabbed and killed four juveniles,” police spokeswoman Racheal Kawala said.

The suspect fatally stabbed three boys and a girl among 14 children present at the compound, police said.

He had visited the nursery last week to seek admission for a child, paid the fees and was told to return this week, Kawala said.

A general view of the police-cordoned Ggaba Early Childhood Development Program school following an attack on children in Kampala on Thursday.

Photo: AFP Angry residents attempted to lynch the man as he tried to escape before security forces intervened by firing tear gas to disperse the irate crowd and arresting him.

Videos on social media showed distressed parents outside the daycare centre, now cordoned off, anxiously seeking news of their children and demanding their release. “Ten children survived the attack and are already with their parents,” Kawala said.

The motive behind the killings remains unclear and police are investigating.

Such killings are rare in Uganda. “We shall push for the death sentence for this criminal,” Uganda’s army chief Muhoozi Kainerugaba posted on X.

原文链接: 南华早报