U.S. embassies in Uganda, Tanzania warn of ‘impending’ attacks on foreigners
The United States embassies in Uganda and Tanzania have issued warnings about “rumours of impending attacks” in areas frequented by foreigners.
According to the embassy in Kampala, “There are rumours of impending attacks in areas frequented by expats within East Africa, including Uganda.’’
The warning was issued on Thursday, a day after the embassy in Dar es Salaam issued a similar security alert.
Both alerts said the embassies had “no substantiating evidence of the threat or information on the timing,” but said people should avoid crowds and stay alert.
While Uganda and Tanzania do not suffer regular attacks like Kenya, which is often subjected to deadly attacks by Somalia based militant group al-Shabaab because they have not been immune.
“In 2010 there were bomb attacks in Kampala at venues screening the World Cup final killing over 70 people and injuring many more. Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility and threatened further attacks in the region,” Britain says on its official travel advice page.
Britain says that “terrorists are likely to try to carry out attacks,” on Tanzania, but adds that Tanzania hasn’t suffered a major terrorist incident since the bombing of the US embassy in 1998, dpa reports.