LYON, France – INTERPOL Black Notices featuring reconstructed photos of two suspected suicide bombers who targeted football fans watching the World Cup final in Kampala, have been issued at the request of Uganda Police in a bid to identify the suspects.
Remains of the bombers recovered from the scenes following the blasts on the night of Sunday 11 July in the Ugandan capital, enabled the international teams deployed to assist the investigation to re-construct photos showing their possible appearance.
At the request of the Ugandan Police, INTERPOL has now issued Black Notices – used to seek information about unidentified bodies – to each of its 188 member countries and is publishing the reconstructed photos of the suspects to engage public assistance in identifying the men.
“With INTERPOL issuing the Black Notices to our law enforcement colleagues around the world and by making these photos public, we believe someone, somewhere could recognize one or both of these men,” said head of the Ugandan Police, Inspector General Kale Kayihura.
“Our investigation into these terrible acts is advancing, and publishing these photos is another step forward in finding those responsible for the death and injury of so many innocent victims.
“The level of support that is being provided to the Ugandan Police by INTERPOL and law enforcement officers from around the world is both welcome and important to our investigation,” added the Inspector General.
At the request of the Ugandan police, INTERPOL deployed an Incident Response Team (IRT) immediately following the attacks on the Ethopian Village Restaurant and the Kyandondo Rugby Club which left more than 70 people dead and at least 70 more seriously injured. The IRT is working as part of an international multi-agency team under the authority of the Ugandan Police Force.
“Uganda’s decision to request INTERPOL Black Notices and to make these photos public is a clear demonstration that they are doing everything they can to identify those suspected of carrying out these attacks which will then enable them to find any other individuals involved and bring them to justice,” said INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K. Noble.
“INTERPOL and all of our member countries will continue to offer every support to the Ugandan Police throughout this investigation, whether through the issue of notices, carrying out checks against our global databases, or ensuring that requests for information are dealt with as quickly as possible,” added the head of INTERPOL.
The first INTERPOL IRT was deployed in October 2002 to Indonesia following a terrorist bombing in Bali. To date, more than 50 teams have been deployed to 35 countries in Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe, including for the 2004 Asian tsunami and following the Mumbai terror attacks in December 2008.