A 65-year-old man was battered to death by Local Defense Unit (LDU) officers enforcing night curfew guidelines Oyam district in northern Uganda.

Francis Ogwang Munu, a resident of Amati village, Juma parish, Kamdini sub-county died on Saturday night at a private clinic where he was rushed for treatment after the beatings.

It is alleged that the LDU officers who were about six in number and were stationed at Kamdini police station went to Amati trading center in on Saturday evening to disperse the crowd that later took off leaving behind Ogwang who was badly battered. The deceased was rushed to a nearby clinic from where he died shortly upon arrival.Michael Odongo, the North Kyoga police spokesperson confirmed the incident saying their preliminary investigations show that Ogwang was assaulted by LDUs who are yet to be identified. Odongo faulted the LDUs for going to carry out an operation without the knowledge of officer in charge of the police station.

“These LDUs according to the information we have, they left coroner Kamdini police station without supervisors. They left on their own and went to Amati trading centre where they carried out an operation against those who were defying the curfew. In the process they assaulted a one Ogwang Francis Manu, he was assaulted, he became unconscious, he was taken to a new clinic where he died.” said Odongo.

He says investigations on the matter have begun and the culprits will be brought to book. The body of Ogwang was taken to Lira referral hospital for a postmortem and a murder case file has been opened under CRB 084/2020 at Oyam police station.

Ogwang now becomes the 9th documented direct killing by Ugandan security officers in the over 80 days while enforcing coronavirus lockdown guidelines. Last week, another man was shot in the neck by a UPDF soldier in Kasese for allegedly flouting curfew guidelines.