<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">Pupils in Uganda were singing gospel songs before a deadly attack by Islamist militants on Friday, a woman who lives opposite the school says.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Then I heard screaming," Mary Masika told the BBC. The vicious attack in Mpondwe left about 40 people dead.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Islamic State-linked militants have been blamed for the attack.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) was created in the 1990s and took up arms against President Yoweri Museveni, alleging persecution of Muslims.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">They are largely based in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Mpondwe Lhubiriha Secondary School attacked on Friday is close to the border.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ms Masika says she and other residents have been left terrified by the attack which lasted about 90 minutes.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The students usually sing before bedtime - and at first she and her daughter thought the noise that interrupted their songs at around 22:00 (20:00 GMT) suggested that they were having a bit of fun.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But it soon became clear that something horrific was under way at the school, which had around 60 boarders living in a small compound.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">ADF rebels had entered dormitories, setting fire to them and using machetes to kill and maim students.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">One family in Mpondwe held the funerals on Sunday for a father and son killed in the attack - 47-year-old security guard Elphanas Mbusa and 17-year-old Masereka Elton.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Their other son, 15-year-old Brian Muhindo who was also attending the school, is missing. They do not know if he is amongst the six boys kidnapped or one of those whose bodies cannot be identified because they have been so badly burned.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Hurubana Kimadi Onesmus told the BBC he found it difficult to understand how the attackers were able to infiltrate the school where his son, the security guard, worked and where his grandsons were studying.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"There is a very heavy military presence in the area," the 69-year-old said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Now there is a lot of security at the school - and the BBC team was given only a few minutes to take some photos of the burnt buildings.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It was a devastating and upsetting scene.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Lots of dried blood is still on the ground outside the girls' dormitory - they had been attacked by machetes and others shot dead as they ran away.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The boys' dormitory had been locked - they had either refused to open it to the rebels or they were locked inside by them. The militants poured fuel on the building and set it alight.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Inside the smell of death is unmistakeable - beds have been reduced to wire mesh with pieces of flesh still stuck to them.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">They were talking in Swahili - the lingua franca in the region - and afterwards began shouting "Allahu Akbar", meaning "God is greatest".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">She said after these chants one of them added: "We have succeeded in destabilising Museveni's country."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In response, President Museveni vowed to send more troops to Rwenzori Mountains, which are along the border between Uganda and the DR Congo, saying: "Their action... the desperate, cowardly, terrorist action... will not save them."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The area around Mpondwe seems to be a mix of Christians and Muslims. Some of those attending the funerals on Sunday were dressed in traditional Muslim attire.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Other funerals for the pupils killed in the attack were held in villages across the region, with most people dumbfounded and pained by the brutality of the assault. BBC</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>