GULU CITY I URN: Fear and panic continue to grip residents, traders, and boda boda riders in Gulu City after unknown gunmen shot and injured a boda boda rider and stole four motorcycles in a series of separate overnight attacks.
One of the victims has been identified as 43-year-old Dafalla Okech, a boda boda rider operating opposite Housing Finance Bank along Labwor Road in Pece-Laroo Division. Okech was attacked at around 9:45 p.m. on Tuesday in Kirombe Ward, Bardege-Layibi Division, shortly after transporting a female passenger to her home.
Two armed assailants reportedly confronted him before shooting him in the right buttock and fleeing with his Bajaj Boxer motorcycle. A second robbery was also reported in Pageya along the Gulu-Moroto Road in the Laroo-Pece Division.
According to security personnel, another boda boda rider, whose identity had not yet been established, was attacked by armed men at around the same time. He was reportedly beaten and injured before the assailants, who were also dressed in black raincoats, stole his motorcycle.
Speaking to Uganda Radio Network from his hospital bed at the emergency ward of Gulu Regional Referral Hospital, Okech recounted the terrifying ordeal. He said he had just dropped off a passenger when the attackers emerged from a dark corner inside the customer’s compound.
According to Okech, the two men ordered him to sit down, but he resisted, prompting a confrontation. He said one of the attackers repeatedly struck him on the head with a steel bar before the second assailant shot him.
Okech urged fellow boda boda riders to exercise extreme caution while operating at night, especially in dark and isolated areas, warning that armed criminals appear to be targeting riders in the city. Medical personnel at Gulu Regional Referral Hospital said Okech is now out of danger after undergoing a CT scan of his skull and brain.
Peter Banya, the Deputy Resident City Commissioner in charge of Pece-Laroo Division, confirmed the incidents on Wednesday and revealed that security agencies have registered at least eight separate cases of gun attacks and aggravated motorcycle robberies since the beginning of the month.
Banya said investigators are closely examining the timing and pattern of the robberies as part of ongoing investigations.
“The investigation is putting the time aspect into consideration, and then the model of the robbery. We are putting them into consideration, which is helping us with the investigation, which is ongoing,” Banya said.
The chairperson of the Gulu City East Boda Boda Association, Moses Ojok, has called for urgent security intervention, confirming that four motorcycles were stolen on Tuesday night alone. The resurgence of gun-related crimes has heightened fear among residents, boda boda riders, and members of the business community, especially those operating at night.
Since the beginning of the month, two people have been shot dead, while two others are nursing gunshot and assault injuries inflicted by unknown armed assailants. According to leaders of the Gulu City East and Gulu City West boda boda associations, at least 10 motorcycles have been stolen by armed criminals in the last three weeks.
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