Terrorists will not scareoff soldiers

KAMPALA - President Yoweri Museveni said yesterday terrorist attacks would not make Uganda withdraw its troops from Somalia.

He was speaking days after a grenade blast killed three people on a Kampala-bound bus in Nairobi.

"Uganda will not succumb to terrorist activities. After the World Cup tournament bomb blasts that rocked Kampala, Al-Shebab thought Ugandans would abandon their Somali brothers and sisters," Museveni said, referring to the Somali Islamist group behind twin attacks on July 11 that killed 76 people.

"The continued stay in Somalia by Ugandan troops proved to the Somalis that Uganda is a reliable ally."

Ugandan soldiers form the bulk of the African Union's more than 7000 troops in Mogadishu.

Al-Shebab claimed Ugandans were targeted in the July suicide attacks because of Kampala's support for the weak Western-backed Somalia government.

Uganda's police chief Kale Kayihura said there were "strong indications" Islamist groups were trying to hit Kampala during the holidays.