20100802
africanews

A mobile phone found alongside an unexploded suicide vest led police in Uganda to the three Kenyans charged with 76 counts of murder over last month's bombings in Kampala, the country's deputy director of Interpol, Elly Womanya has said.

"We got them through that mobile phone and also some other investigations." Adding, "We are still investigating. We have other suspects," he said.

According to VOA, shortly after the July 11 attacks that killed 76 at two separate sites the head of Uganda's police counterterrorism division, Abas Byakagaba, exhibited the unexploded vest which was discovered by a resident at a discotheque in the Makindye district had a black laptop bag and two large slabs of brownish-colored explosives material fitted with an electric detonator to reporters.

Also found in the bag was a mobile phone that police believed could have been used to set off the explosive device remotely.

"What you see here are explosives, including the blue wires. Inside the brownish material are the ball bearings. Those are meant to accelerate the effect of the explosives. And here is the jacket, where all these materials are supposed to go," explained Byakagaba.

The vest is designed so that it could be planted, rather than detonated by a suicide bomber. It is again unclear why the bomb was left at the club.

However Ugandan police chief, Kale Kayihura, disclosed that the exhibits would be studied for clues that might lead them to the men who planned and carried out the dual attacks.

Kayihura put forward that the would-be bomber may have changed his mind before setting off the charge.

"What we found here is consistent with what we found on both scenes of crime. So, this is a very significant lead in our investigation," said Kayihura.

Confirmed reports circulated in the Ugandan media has it that both local and international police used the serial number on that phone to track down the Kenyan suspects.

Last Friday, Hussein Hassan Agad, Mohamed Adan Abdow and Idris Magondu, all Kenyan nationals, were charged in a Kampala magistrate’s court with committing acts of terrorism and 76 counts of murder.