UPDATE 2-Suspected bomb kills two near shrine in Uganda's capital, local media report

A suspected bomb blast killed two people near a Roman Catholic shrine in the Ugandan capital Kampala on Tuesday morning, local media reported, while the army said two armed people had been "neutralized" as people gathered for a public holiday.

The Daily Monitor and New Vision newspapers reported that the explosion near the Munyonyo Martyrs' Shrine in the south of the city had killed at least two people as Ugandans assembled to celebrate Martyrs' Day, which commemorates Christians who were killed for their faith in the 19th century. NBS, an independent broadcaster, showed video of what appeared to be a motorbike and body on a road surrounded by debris.

A Ugandan army spokesman wrote on X that a "counter-terrorism unit this morning intercepted and neutralized two armed terrorists in Munyonyo, an upscale city suburb." NTV Uganda said that public access to the area around the shrine had been restricted after the explosion.

"The security services are on heightened alert to ensure the Martyrs Day celebrations proceed without disruption," the army spokesman said. Police spokesperson Kituuma Rusoke did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the explosion. "Two people were on a motorcycle and an explosion occurred," Ugandan police chief Abas Byakagaba told NBS in a video posted on X.

Byakagaba did not say what happened to the two people on the motorbike but added: "The good thing though is that there were no people nearby who were injured." Islamic State (IS), which is allied with anti-Uganda rebel group the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), said it carried out the last bombings in Kampala, which killed seven people in 2021.

The ADF was founded by Ugandan Muslims in the 1990s and initially waged war against the Ugandan government from bases in the country's west before fleeing into eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where they are blamed by the United Nations for thousands of civilian deaths.

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