Ugandan opposition figure Bobi Wine ‘shot in leg’ in confrontation with police

3 September 2024, 18:54

Bobi Wine
Uganda Opposition Figure Wounded. Picture: PA

His party, the National Unity Platform, holds the most seats of any opposition group in the national assembly.

Ugandan opposition figure Bobi Wine has been shot in the leg in a confrontation with police just outside the capital Kampala, his opposition group said.

Photos posted online showed Mr Wine surrounded by followers who shouted that he had been shot in the leg before some supported him into a waiting car.

His party, the National Unity Platform, holds the most seats of any opposition group in the national assembly.

The party said on X that Ugandan security operatives “have made an attempt on the life of” Mr Wine, whose real name is Kyagulanyi Ssentamu.

“He was shot in the leg and seriously injured in Bulindo, Wakiso District,” it said, referring to a town on the outskirts of the Ugandan capital.

It was not immediately clear whether Mr Wine was targeted with a live bullet or a tear gas projectile.

Images shared by his close associates showed a bleeding wound below the left knee.

Ugandan police said in a statement that Mr Wine was advised against holding a street procession when he left a private event in Bulindo.

According to the statement, Mr Wine “insisted on proceeding and closing the road, leading to police intervention to prevent the procession”.

The opposition figure was injured in “the ensuing altercation”, it said, adding that the alleged shooting will be investigated.

Street confrontations between Mr Wine and the police have frequently descended into violence, but this is the first time he has been wounded in such a way.

Mr Wine ran for president in 2021, losing to President Yoweri Museveni in an election he claimed was rigged against him.

The opposition figure was a famous entertainer in the East African country before he won a seat in the national assembly in 2017.

He is especially popular among young Ugandans in urban areas.

Mr Museveni, a US ally on regional security for many years, has held power since 1986 and had the constitution amended to remove the age limit for presidents.

Now 79 years old, he has resisted calls to announce when he will retire.

Uganda has not had a peaceful transfer of power since independence from the British in 1962.

By Press Association

Latest World News

See more Latest World News

Russian emergency workers pull Mikhail Pichugin ashore after he was rescued by a fishing vessel following 67 days adrift in the Sea of Okhotsk

Russian man rescued after 10 weeks stranded at sea but relatives 'found dead in boat'

Pint of Czech beer on rooftop terrace in Prague, Czech Republic

Prague bans night-time pub crawls in bid to attract 'more cultured' tourists

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally at Erie Insurance Arena, in Erie, Pa., Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Kamala Harris in plagiarising row as she's accused of 'stealing' from Martin Luther King and Wikipedia

Janne Puhakka (L) and Rolf Nordmo

Boyfriend of Finland's first ever openly gay ice hockey player 'admits to killing' star with 'hunting rifle'

Members of Afghanistan's ministry for the propagation of virtue and the prevention of vice attend a press conference

Taliban bans all images of living things in Afghanistan

A TV screen reports North Korea has blown up parts of northern side of inter-Korean roads during a news program at Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

North Korea blows up road connecting to South Korea, prompting warning shots from South

Images of perfume bottle used to store and transport Novichok

Pictures show tiny perfume bottle used to store lethal Russian nerve agent Novichok - which killed Dawn Sturgess

CCTV footage shows some of the final moments of Dawn Sturgess before she was poisoned with Novichok

Heartbreaking CCTV footage shows final moments of Dawn Sturgess before Novichok poisoning

The Bridge of Castilla-La Mancha, a cable-stayed bridge over the Tagus River, where the British man fell to his death

British man, 26, dies after falling from Spanish bridge ‘while creating content for social media’

Met officers were unaware that Hezbollah is a proscribed terror group

Fury as Met officers policing London march 'unaware' that Hezbollah are proscribed terror group

Ali Abbasi said he would meet Donald Trump to discuss the film

Donald Trump biopic director says 'he'd like former president for film’s marketing team' after scathing attack

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket with the Europa Clipper spacecraft aboard launches from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral on October 14

Rocket blasts off to Jupiter moon to investigate 'potential for habitable worlds beyond Earth'

This illustration provided by NASA depicts the Europa Clipper spacecraft above the surface of the moon Europa, foreground, and Jupiter behind

NASA to send spaceship on 1.8 billion mile mission to explore life on Jupiter

BORDENTOWN, NJ -7 NOV 2020- View of the Bordentown train station, a New Jersey Transit railway station in Bordentown, a historic town in Burlington Co

One dead and multiple injured after train crashes into tree

Dawn Sturgess, 44,

What were the Salisbury Poisonings? Inquiry opens into Novichok death

Hezbollah has launched the biggest attack on Israel since the October 7 massacre - as a barrage of drones injures dozens in the northern town of Binyamina.

Four Israeli soldiers killed and dozens injured in Hezbollah drone attack on IDF base