Police withholds bodies of dead royal guards in Kasese

Police have declined to release the bodies of the Rwenzururu royal guards killed in the Kasese clashes.

The 46 royal guards were killed when UPDF soldiers stormed the Palace of King Charles Wesley Mumbere in Kasese town on Saturday.

This morning, the relatives of some of the Royal Guards showed up at Kasese Police Station to claim the remains of their loved ones but they were turned away.

Moses Muhindo, whose brother Davis Baluku was killed says he went to Kasese mortuary to collect the body but was told to first seek permission from police.

Mansur Suwed, the Rwenzori East Police Commander says the bodies will be handed to the families after postmortem has been carried out.

"We have taken the bodies to different mortuaries and postmortem will be done and then we hand them to the families", he said.

Suwed declined to reveal how long the exercise will take. Mansur adds that the bodies of the dead police officers will this afternoon be handed to their families.

By the time of filing this story, funeral service vans were parked at Kasese Police Station to collect the bodies of the officers.

The 139 royal guards who were arrested during the operation at the palace have been taken to Katoojo Government Prison in Fort Portal.

-URN