Hostel fire destroys 500 students' property, terrorists suspected

About five hundred students of the Basajjabalaba Secondary School in Uganda's Bushenyi-Ishaka Municipality have lost their property to a fire incident.

According to a Greater Bushenyi police fire officer, Warren Nftundinda, the Tuesday night fire gutted the three dormitory blocks at around 8pm.

Nftundinda said students residing in the affected dormitories lost mattresses, suitcases, books, and clothes.

The school's head teacher, Matsiko Muhsin, said the fire had gotten out of control by the time he heard about it.

He said so much was lost that the school had to send the students home.

"This must affect us because students have lost their notes and we can't expect good performance after this," Muhsin said.

READ: 37 students’ poisoning… police shuts school, arrests 4 kitchen staff

"We have asked them to be with their parents for a while as school management decides on the next step."

Commenting on the incident, the acting district police commander, Peter Tindyebwa, said it could be linked to acts of terrorism targeting schools.

"We had an incident at Plus Two High School where students were preparing to set the whole school on fire using petrol," Mr Tindyebwa said.

"We suspect they had received some briefing on how to do it.

The Monitor of Uganda reports that a 17-year-old student was recently raped and killed by unknown people.