The Uganda High Court on Thursday convicted seven suspected members of Al-Shabaab in the 2010 twin bombings that killed 76 people in the capital of Kampala as fans watched the World Cup soccer finals on TV.
Justice Aphonse Owinyi Dollo found Isa Ahamed Luyima, Hussein Hassan Agad, Idris Magondu, Habib Suleiman Njoroge, Hassan Luyima, Muhammed Ali Muhamed and Suleiman Hajjir Nyamandondo of terrorism, murder and attempted murder. Five others were acquitted.
Luyima was identified as the mastermind in the coordinated bombings that went off minutes apart July 11, 2010, at a rugby club and an Ethiopian restaurant, where people were watching the World Cup final between Spain and the Netherlands on television. Hundreds of others were also injured.
Al-Shabaab, a Sunni Islamist militia based in Somalia with ties to al Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the attacks as retaliation for Uganda’s support for troops under the African Union Mission in Somalia. The group has been waging an insurgency in Somalia for about 10 years with the aim of turning the country into a fundamentalist Islamic state.
Most of the dead in the Kampala bombings were Ugandans. Other fatalities included an Indian, an Irishman, a Kenyan, a U.S. citizen and Eritreans and Ethiopians.