A top Ugandan state prosecutor who was handling the trial of 13 men accused of Al-Shabaab atacks in the country has been killed.
Joan Kagezi was the chief prosecutor in the trial of the 2010 al-Shabab bombings in Uganda in which 13 men were under trial for their suspected involvement .
A police spokesman in Kampala said the lawyer, Joan Kagezi, appeared to have been attacked by two men who had followed her car on a motorcycle as she drove home in Kiwatule, a suburb about 13 kilometers from the center of Kampala.
The state-owned New Vision newspaper said the gunmen had attacked her car on Monday evening as it slowed down for speed bumps, and that the lawyer died on the spot.
Last week, Uganda authorities stepped up security after the United States embassy warned of possible terrorist threats on locations frequented by Westerners.
Kagezi’s current cases included the trial of seven Kenyans, five Ugandans and one Tanzanian allegedly linked to the July 2010 suicide bombings targeting football fans watching the World Cup final at a restaurant and a rugby club in Kampala.
All but one of the accused had been charged with belonging to al-Shabab.
Somalia’s al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Shabab militants claimed responsibility for the attack. It was the group’s first assault outside Somalia.
The July 2010 bombings were one of the deadliest attacks by al-Shabab. The group also carried out the 2013 assault on the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, in which at least 67 people died.
The July 2010 bombings were one of the deadliest attacks by the Shabaab, who also carried out the 2013 assault on the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, killing at least 67 people.
Uganda and Kenya have contributed thousands of soldiers to the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), which was established to fight the Islamists and protect the internationally recognised government.
Al-Shabaab continues to target countries in the region.
In September Ugandan security forces seized suicide vests and explosives during a raid on a suspected Shabaab cell in Kampala.
