At least 25 people have been killed at a school in western Uganda by rebels linked to the Islamic State group.
A statement released by the Police on Saturday said that the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) carried out the attack on Friday late night on Lhubiriha Secondary School in Mpondwe.
The health condition of eight people remained critical, said the police.
ADF, a Ugandan group based in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), has pledged its allegiance to ISIL (ISIS) group.
Soldiers are pursuing the group who fled towards Virunga National park in the DRC, police added.
"So far 25 bodies have been recovered from the school and transferred to Bwera Hospital," national police spokesperson Fred Enanga said in a statement on Saturday.
A dormitory at the school was burnt and a food store was looted during Friday night's attack, he added.
Reportedly, several feared to have been abducted.
The attackers have fled towards Virunga National Park-Africa's oldest and largest national park home to rare species, including mountain gorillas, BBC reported.
ADF was accused of launching many attacks on the civilians in the recent years. Ever since Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, a US security ally, came into power ADF had opposed it.
In June 1998 , 80 students were burnt to death in their dormitories in an ADF attack on Kichwamba Technical Institute near the border of DRC. Over 100 students were abducted.
The ADF was created in eastern Uganda in the 1990s and took up arms against long-serving President, Museveni, alleging government persecution of Muslims.
After its defeat by the Ugandan army in 2001, it relocated to the North Kivu province in the DRC.
(With agency inputs)
