Uganda police warn of election attack

KAMPALA — Uganda has credible information that "terrorists" plan to attack the country on or immediately before its February 18 voting day, the police chief said in a statement Saturday.
"We have received credible information of a plan by terrorists to carry out attacks during the last days of the elections," Inspector General of Police Kale Kayihura said in the statement.
Kayihura said police and Uganda's other security agencies are "stepping up vigilance to avert these evil plans."
The capital Kampala was on July 11 struck by twin suicide bombings at two separate sites that killed at least 76.
The attacks, which targetted fans watching the football World Cup final, were claimed by Somalia's Islamist Al-Shebab rebels as retaliation for Uganda supporting the Western-backed Mogadishu government.
In recent weeks Uganda has committed more troops to the Somali mission and has warned that operatives linked to Al-Shebab are anxious to attack the country again.
Kayihura most recently placed the country on heightened alert during the Christmas and New Year period.
Margaret Wokuri, spokeswoman for Uganda's main opposition coalition, told AFP Saturday that "security is everybody's concern."
She said, however, that Kayihura, a long-time ally of President Yoweri Museveni, may have issued the warning for political reasons.
"We take these warnings with a lot of suspicion," she said.
She suggested that Kayihura, who joined the Museveni rebel group in the 1980s and often publicly criticises opposition leader Kizza Besigye, may be using the threat of terrorism as a pretext to block all opposition rallies around the vote.