Uganda Martyrs' Day: Two 'armed errorists' killed in Kampala, army says
Two people who the Ugandan army describe as "armed terrorists" have been killed in the capital, Kampala, as the country marks Martyrs Day - a Christian celebration to commemorate t he faithful who died in the 19th Century.A counter-terrorism unit "intercepted and neutralized" the two, one of whom was a suicide bomber, in the upmarket suburb of Munyonyo, army spokesperson Chris Magezi said in a post on X.The incident took place near the Roman Catholic Munyonyo Martyrs' Shrine, where a small group had gathered to pray, local media reported. Reports also cited an explosion, with an eyewitness telling Uganda's Daily Monitor newspaper that "the explosive detonated midway towards the church".
There were no other casualties, the Reuters news agency reports. The army spokesperson did not confirm the blast, but added that the authorities were on "heightened alert".One of those killed was a female "suicide bomber laden with powerful explosives", Col Magezi said. Footage from Uganda's NBS Television, showed security and forensics personnel at the scene of the incident, after having sealed off the area. Col Magezi told Reuters that it was believed the two people were linked to the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), which has been linked to the Islamic State (IS) group. The ADF has not yet commented.Uganda has historically faced threats from the group. Last year, the army warned citizens that the ADF was planning to attack places of worship, public events, schools and urban areas.A year earlier, in 2023, the group was accused of carrying out a fatal attack on a Ugandan school which led to the killing of nearly 40 students. The Martyrs Day event, one of the largest Christian pilgrimages in Africa, draws millions of believers each year to honour 45 people, made up of 22 Catholics and 23 Anglicans, who were killed between 1885 and 1887 on the orders of Kabaka Mwanga II of Buganda for refusing to renounce their faith. The monarch demanded they revert back to their traditional religion, but they refused and were accused of disobeying him and later burned to death for it.
More BBC News stories about Uganda:
Uganda school attack: I covered myself in blood to hideHow Islamic State has expanded into Central AfricaInside view of the IS-linked ADF rebels
Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica
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Sky News
8 hours ago
- Sky News
Rhianan Rudd: How mother's boyfriend played 'significant' role in radicalising youngest UK girl to face terror charges
Rhianan Rudd, who took her own life at the age of 16, was the youngest girl in the UK to be charged with terrorist offences. The inquest into her death, which concluded today, revealed shocking details about her radicalisation by two American white supremacists, one of whom was her mother's boyfriend, who the coroner said "played a material role in her radicalisation". Rhianan gouged a swastika into her forehead, downloaded a bomb-making manual and told her mother she planned to blow up a synagogue. Investigated by anti-terrorism police and MI5, charges against her were later dropped, but five month later on 19 May 2022, she was found dead in her shower in a children's home in Nottinghamshire. Hours earlier she had posted on Instagram: "I'm delving into madness." The evidence heard in Chesterfield Coroner's Court from police, social services and even an MI5 operative, raised questions over the state's part in her death - and whether, despite her obvious radicalisation, this vulnerable, autistic girl should have been treated with more care by the authorities. Judge Alexia Durran said: "I'm not satisfied, on the balance of probabilities, Rhianan intended to take her own life. Rhianan's death... was the result of a self-inflicted act but it is not possible to ascertain her intention. "Rhianan was known, to family and professionals, to be vulnerable, to have autistic traits and have a history of self-harm." The coroner added: "I find she was highly affected by her arrest and was concerned about being sent to prison." It was not known what Rhianan was told by her legal team when the charges were dropped but this may have had a "psychological impact" on her, the coroner said. In an interview released at the verdict, Rhianan's mother Emily Carter said her daughter "should never have been charged", that she was failed by those investigating her, including MI5 and counter terrorism police, as well as being let down by mental health services and those caring for her at the home. This was the most complex of cases, set at a time when our security services are seeing a growing number of children being arrested and charged for terrorist offences, while parents often seem oblivious to the radicalising material they are consuming online in their bedrooms. Ms Durham's ruling reflected this complexity, finding that while there were some failings the actions of the police and MI5 were "reasonable and proportionate". The coroner concluded today that she was satisfied that missed opportunities in her case were "not systemic". Judge Alexia Durran said: "In the circumstances I do not consider I should make a prevention of future deaths report." At the same she was unequivocal about the "significant" role played by two extremists in radicalising her. It was her mother's former boyfriend, an American she'd befriended though a US pen-pal prison scheme, who first introduced Rhianan to far-right ideology. Dax Mallaburn had been part of a white supremacist prison gang in the US and subsequently came to the UK to live with Rhianan's mother in September 2017, a year after she'd been to visit him in the US. In the autumn of 2019, Rhianan alleged that he had touched her inappropriately but later withdrew the allegation and, after a social services assessment, Mr Mallaburn returned to the family home. Ms Carter says: "In hindsight, he was a bad person but I never saw him talking Nazi stuff with her." Before Rhianan was arrested, Mr Mallaburn's relationship with her mother had broken down and he returned to the US and then Mexico. However, during COVID, Rhianan appeared to contact another far-right extremist, Christopher Cook, and began an online relationship with him. Cook, who was roughly 18 and living in Ohio, shared far-right texts with Rhianan along with a bomb-making manual, and during this time she became fixated with Adolf Hitler. Cook's lawyer, Peter Scranton, says he too was radicalised online, and he came up with a plan to blow up power stations in the US, for which he was eventually arrested in August 2020, and in February 2022 he pleaded guilty to terrorism offences. Cook, who was a misfit at school, suffering from "severe depression" according to his lawyer and was "essentially lashing out" as he tried to form a group to carry out his plan. Mr Scranton told Sky News, "It was white nationalism, and they had this idea, and I don't know why anyone would feel this way or how they thought it would work, that if they tore down the government and started over they could create a new United States of America that could look like the image that they would want - a white nationalist image." Downtown LA a scene of 'pandemonium' Day Of The Jackal author dead Mr Scranton says Cook told him he didn't radicalise Rhianan, and it was the former boyfriend, Dax Mallaburn, who'd initially got her into neo-Nazi ideology. However, the coroner found Cook was "a significant radicaliser of Rhianan" at a time when she was "isolated and unsupervised". Ms Carter says Rhianan was interested in German history because she was doing it at school and Cook was able to "pull her in", to racial hatred and antisemitism. She says she didn't know what was happening, despite having parental controls on Rhianan's devices. She said: "I could hear her talking to people on there and I'd say who are you talking to and she'd say - just someone from school - and in fact I found out it wasn't at all. "When this person she was talking to disappeared, that's when she sat down on my lap like a baby and cried. She told me this guy Chris had left her, and she was totally in love with him - then she came down and told me she had downloaded a bomb manual and I was like 'Oh my god, what have you been doing'." Ms Carter decided to contact Prevent - a national program in the UK designed to stop individuals from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism She says: "I thought putting her in a deradicalisation programme would be a fairly easy undo 'brain pick', But it wasn't until the police turned up that I thought 'hang on a minute this is a lot deeper than I actually thought it was at first'." Ms Carter and her lawyers have argued that the police were heavy-handed, that there should have been a psychological assessment before she was even questioned over terrorism offences. "There were 19 police officers to arrest a 5ft 1, 14-year-old girl who weighs seven stone. It was over the top," says Ms Carter. Once Rhianan was charged, the deradicalisation work under Prevent was put on hold. Ms Carter thinks this was a mistake. She says: "Leaving her with her own thoughts throughout the entire time of going through the police interviews and everything else - the deradicalisation would have changed the way she was seeing things - I believe she would have been able to handle it all so much better." The coroner described the police arrest and interview as "necessary and conducted appropriately" and that, while ceasing the Prevent intervention was an "unfortunate consequence" of the police investigation, it was "an appropriate step". During police interviews, Rhianan described being coerced and groomed, including sexually, and having sent explicit images of herself to Cook. Lawyers representing the family say police and MI5 knew she was the victim of child sexual exploitation but failed to refer her to the relevant body - the National Referral Mechanism. It was only after a social worker made the referral, that she was identified as a child victim and then the charges were dropped, by which time she had been subject to investigation and prosecution for 15 months. The coroner agreed that there was a "systems failure" due to a lack of training both within the police and the Derbyshire council who both had had "significant information" that she was a potential victim of modern slavery. However, she also said it "was impossible to know" whether this would have led to the CPS dropping their charges sooner, "nor that if had more than minimal impact on Rhianan's death". Ms Carter says if she'd been treated differently "she'd be troubled, but I do think she'd still be alive". Rhianan's family say the security services knew her vulnerabilities and that she had a tendency to self-harm, but they failed to take this into account. Ms Carter said: "I admit my mistakes and I want the organisations to admit their mistakes. There were failings and they need to admit them." This ruling however found that the state did not play a role in Rhianan's death under article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights. For the most part, her vulnerabilities were known and taken into consideration. It does however show how extremists will exploit children with mental health problems, young people who are struggling with life who may be a danger to society, but also a risk to themselves. Counter Terrorism Policing said it offered "sincere condolences to Rhianan's family and loved ones for their terrible loss". Assistant Chief Constable Di Coulson, speaking on behalf of Counter Terrorism Policing in the East Midlands (CTPEM) and Derbyshire Constabulary, said: "This was a complex case involving a very vulnerable young person, who had been subjected to radicalisation. "Rhianan's tragic death was clearly devastating for her family. It was felt profoundly by the officers directly involved, but also across Counter Terrorism Policing as a whole. "Rhianan's case was a stark moment for our management of the growing numbers of children and young people in our casework - so often presenting vulnerability as well as risk and threat to the public. "Since Rhianan's death, we continue to work alongside our partners to evolve the way we approach cases involving children and, where feasible, attempt to rehabilitate and deradicalise, rather than investigate and convict. "We welcome the findings of the Chief Coroner today, and while we have already made substantial improvements to the way we manage these cases, we will carefully review the findings and make any further changes in order to improve our protection of the public against terrorism."
The Guardian
9 hours ago
- The Guardian
UK teenager who killed herself was ‘highly affected' by terrorism arrest, inquest finds
A vulnerable teenage girl who died five months after terrorism charges against her were dropped was 'highly affected' by her arrest but failures in her case were 'not systemic', a coroner has concluded. Rhianan Rudd died at a children's home aged 16 in May 2022, as the result of a self-inflicted act, said the chief coroner of England and Wales, Alexia Durran. Delivering a narrative verdict at Chesterfield town hall on Monday, Durran said: 'In the circumstances I do not consider I should make a prevention of future deaths report. 'I'm not satisfied, on the balance of probabilities, Rhianan intended to take her own life. Rhianan's death … was the result of a self-inflicted act but it is not possible to ascertain her intention. 'Rhianan was known, to family and professionals, to be vulnerable, to have autistic traits and have a history of self-harm.' The coroner added: 'I find she was highly affected by her arrest and was concerned about being sent to prison.' It was not known what Rhianan was told by her legal team when the charges were dropped but this may have had a 'psychological impact' on her, the coroner said. When Rhianan was arrested in October 2020, she was so small that no handcuffs would fit on her wrists. Aged 15, she became the youngest girl ever to be charged with terror offences in the UK after being groomed online by an American 'neo-Nazi'. Less than 18 months later, she was found dead at the Bluebell House residential home in Nottinghamshire. Once a 'bubbly, kind and loving' teenager, who loved animals and liked to bake, Rhianan had gradually become quiet and withdrawn. At first she told her mother that it was the coronavirus lockdown that had led to her change in behaviour, but in reality the teenager was being exploited. Rhianan remained under police investigation for more than two years before the charges were dropped, in light of evidence that she had been groomed and sexually exploited. Five months later, she took her own life in a children's home. She had remained under investigation by MI5 until the day she died. Rhianan had been speaking online to Chris Cook, an Ohio-based 28-year-old far-right extremist. Cook, who was later convicted of being part of a terrorist plot, had messaged the then 14-year-old on WhatsApp, sending her links to 'racially motivated, violent extremist books'. Evidence also showed she had been influenced by Dax Mallaburn, her mother Emily Carter's former boyfriend, and a member of the Arizona Aryan Brotherhood, a neo-Nazi group. Carter knew her daughter had been radicalised; she had even referred her to the government's de-radicalisation programme, Prevent, in September 2020, after Rhianan came downstairs and told her she had downloaded a bomb-making manual. 'It was really scary. I knew it had to be done, but it doesn't stop it being scary,' Carter said. 'I was hoping that it was just going to take her two or three times a week to work on her mind, unpick her head, and turn her back into Rhianan, not end up with all these police officers turning up arresting her and pulling my house apart. You don't expect that at all.' At the time of her arrest, Rhianan had a shrine to Adolf Hitler in her bedroom, and described herself as a fascist. She had sent messages on WhatsApp saying she 'wants to kill someone in the school or blow up a Jewish place of worship' and she 'does not care who she kills and nothing matters any more'. The inquest heard police had initially refrained from arresting the teenager as they thought to do so may 'risk some impact on her mental health' and 'could possibly lead to further self-harm and suicide attempts'. But in October 2020, a day after she had been treated in hospital after carving an image of a swastika into her forehead, 19 police officers and three detectives turned up at the family home in Bolsover, Derbyshire, to take her into custody. 'They were going to put her in handcuffs, but the handcuffs didn't go small enough. They just fell off her hands,' Carter said. 'Even on the smallest ones, they just fell off her hands. So they just held her arms and just walked around. That's how small she was.' She added: 'She was 5ft one, weighed seven stone,' she added. 'And she was 15 years old when she said it, she was tiny. I don't know what people thought she could do, but I don't believe that she was ever a threat. It was just what people would put in her head. Brainwashed her, basically.' When she was arrested, Rhianan's engagement with Prevent stopped. During police interviews, Rhianan described being coerced and groomed, telling officers she had sent sexually explicit images of herself to Cook. However, a referral order was only made to the Home Office's national referral mechanism (NRM), which identifies potential victims of human trafficking and modern slavery, in August 2021. 'She was a vulnerable child that was groomed,' Carter said. 'The NRM should have been done at the very beginning, not 10 months into it, and it should have all been put together properly, before you even sit them down at a table and start questioning them. 'She was a child, a vulnerable child, a child with mental health issues. She should have been treated as a victim more than anything.' Durran found there were multiple failures in Rhianan's investigation and care. She said 'the information available constituted a sufficient basis to classify Rhianan as a victim of modern slavery' during her indoctrination into far-right beliefs, and that she should have been referred to the NRM sooner. She added that 'it is arguable that Rhianan not being referred until 2021 is evidence of the systems failure to provide adequate care for her', but said it would be difficult to link these failings to her eventual death and that her arrest was 'reasonable and proportionate in the circumstances'. The coroner's conclusion provided some vindication for Carter, who had always believed her daughter's death was preventable. 'One of the things I've said all the way along the line, I've admitted it to court, I'm not perfect,' she said. 'I've made mistakes, and I want the organisations to put their hands up and admit they've made mistakes and to rectify their mistakes so it doesn't happen again. 'And then that way everybody can be happy, except me, because I've already lost my daughter.' In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@ or jo@ In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at
Daily Mail
10 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Youngest girl in Britain to be charged with terror offences killed herself after being groomed by American neo-Nazis, inquest hears
The youngest girl in Britain to be charged with terror offences killed herself at children's home after being groomed and radicalised by two convicted American neo-Nazis, a coroner ruled. Autistic Rhianan Rudd, 16, plotted to blow up a synagogue and scratched a swastika into her forehead after coming into contact with the two men, one of whom was dating her mother and moved into their Derbyshire home. Rhianan was found dead at Bluebell House children's home near Newark, Notts, on May 19, 2022, five months after terror charges against her were dropped. A four-week inquest into her death heard how Dax Mallaburn, a violent US neo-Nazi with a swastika tattoo on his forearm, moved into the family home in Clowne, Derbyshire, in 2017 after forming a relationship with Rhianan's mother Emily Carter via a prison pen-pal scheme. Chesterfield Coroner's Court heard Rhianan was also in contact with Christopher Cook, from Ohio, with whom she exchanged explicit photographs. Cook, 23, a member of the banned terrorist group Atomwaffen Division, was jailed in the US in 2023 over a plot to attack power grids. Rhianan, who had a history of self-harm, was charged with six counts of terrorism in April 2021, removed from school and placed on remand at Bluebell House. But terror charges against her were later dropped in December 2021 after the Home Office report made a formal finding that she was a victim of exploitation. Rhianan was referred to the Home Office's Prevent deradicalisation programme and underwent therapy sessions. The last of six sessions was held on May 16, 2022, days before Rhianan's death. She was found hanged in the shower fully clothed. In the hours before she had posted on Instagram the message: 'I'm delving into madness.' Rhianan's family believe that the teenager should have been treated from the outset as a victim of exploitation rather than a terror suspect. Jesse Nicholls, the family's lawyer, had told the inquest she had been 'subjected to an extraordinary and exceptional level of state involvement in the period leading up to her death' and adding that her 'known vulnerability' made her unable to cope. But Judge Durran concluded on Monday that there were no systemic failures by authorities which contributed to Rhianan's death, though did say delays to accessing mental heath support presented a 'missed opportunity'. The inquest heard evidence from agencies including MI5, the Crown Prosecution Service, NHS bodies and the police. Some material relating to MI5's involvement with Rhianan was withheld on security grounds. In her conclusion, Judge Durran said that it was 'not possible' to link Rhianan's death directly to her prosecution, and that she was 'not satisfied' that the teenager intended to take her life. She concluded: 'There were number of potential stress factors in Rhianan's life in the months and days before her death. 'She had voiced concerns about a possible reinstatement of criminal proceedings and, separately, her mother's prioritisation of and choice of partner, with whom her mother had recently spent a month abroad. 'She had GCSE exams. A number of staff who worked at Bluebell House and other professionals with whom she had formed close relationships were leaving. The Prevent intervention sessions may have triggered thoughts about extreme right-wing ideology. 'She was being given greater access to her mobile phone and the internet, and she had recently been allowed unsupervised time away from the home. She added: 'It is not possible to say whether any of these stress factors, individually or collectively, more than minimally or negligibly caused or contributed to her death. 'No person regularly in contact with Rhianan had any concerns around the time of her death that she would self-harm or take her own life.' Chesterfield coroner's court heard how Mallaburn gave Rhianan extremist reading material and was suspected by police of 'inappropriate behaviour' towards her before he returned to the US in 2020. Rhianan accused him of sexually touching her shortly after she turned 14 but later withdrew the allegation. The inquest also heard claims that Mallaburn sent himself an explicit recording of Rhianan that he discovered on her old mobile phone. Judge Durran said 'he played a material role in introducing and encouraging Rhianan's interest in extreme right-wing materials'. She sad she 'individuals in the United States who further encouraged and developed her extreme right-wing views' adding: 'In particular I find that the Covid-19 lockdown period was a time during which Rhianan, isolated and unsupervised at home, engaged extensively in online discussions that contributed to her radicalisation.' Cook sent bomb-making manuals and weapons instructions to Rhianan when she was just 14, with the teenager later telling police: 'I was scared before, then I kind of just moved onto the phase of 'I love you'.' Judge Durran branded Cook, from Ohio, a 'significant radicalising influence on Rhianan'. The inquest heard that Rhianan's mother had asked police for help in September 2020, warning them that her daughter had developed an 'unhealthy outlook on fascism' and had a 'massive dislikes for certain races and creeds'. Classmates told school leaders of her intention to 'kill someone in school or blow up a Jewish place of worship'. Drawings found in her school bag included sketches of a man giving a Nazi salute. Counter-terrorism police discovered computer files relating to bomb making and a manual on how to make firearm using 3D printing. In October 2020, Rhianan was taken to hospital after carving a swastika into her forehead using the blade of a pencil sharpener 'because she wanted other people to know her beliefs and hoped that the scarring would be permanent'. She later told a social worker: 'Basically, I do not like anyone who is not white.' Concluding the inquest he judge said: 'I'm not satisfied, on the balance of probabilities, Rhianan intended to take her own life. Rhianan's death... was the result of a self-inflicted act but it is not possible to ascertain her intention. 'Rhianan was known, to family and professionals, to be vulnerable, to have autistic traits and have a history of self-harm.' The coroner added: 'I find she was highly affected by her arrest and was concerned about being sent to prison.' It was not known what Rhianan was told by her legal team when the charges were dropped but this may have had a 'psychological impact' on her, the coroner said. Afterwards, Ms Carter, said she believes her daughter's death was preventable and the agencies involved in her case need to be held accountable. Ms Carter said Rhianan was not treated as a vulnerable child, despite her autism diagnosis, and she does not believe her daughter was ever a threat to other people. The mother said: 'She was five foot one, weighed seven stone. She was tiny. 'I don't know what people thought she could do, but I don't believe that she was ever a threat. It was just what people would put in her head - brainwashed her, basically. 'They (the agencies) treated her as a child, but I don't believe they treated her as a vulnerable child. 'If you've got vulnerable children, you take extra steps to watch them, to look after them, to make sure they feel safe, even from themselves, and they didn't. Obviously, she's dead.' The mother said the moment 19 police officers and two detectives came to arrest her daughter at their family home was 'mind-numbing' and she felt 'violated' when officers turned her house 'upside down'. She said: 'It hurt ... the fact that they thought that my daughter was some sort of massive terrorist. 'They were going to put her in handcuffs, but the handcuffs didn't go small enough. Even on the smallest ones, they just fell off her hands. That's how small she was.' Nick Price, Director of Legal Services at the CPS, said: 'This is a tragic case, and I want to send my sincere condolences and sympathy to Rhianan's family. We do not prosecute young or vulnerable people lightly. Terrorism offences are extremely serious, and these are decisions our specialist prosecutors take great care over.'
