Kampala — A joint security team yesterday interrogated 22 suspects, most of them Somalis, arrested from Soroti in connection with the July 11 bomb attacks in Kampala.

The suspects were quizzed by several anti-terror teams in at least two different Police stations in Kampala. Twelve of the suspects were Somalis and the rest were Ugandans. Unlike earlier reports, security sources yesterday said they were not necessarily interrogating the suspects in connection with the Makindye explosive recovered by bomb experts at Ice Link Discotheque.

This occurred a day after the grisly bomb attacks at the Ethiopian Village Restaurant in Kabalagala and Kyadondo Rugby Club in Lugogo. "These are general interrogations and not only focusing on the Makindye incident, but on the whole incident," a source said.

A source put the number of suspects being held in connection with the attacks at 35, although the figure could not be verified since most of them were in various detention centres.

But a source said the number shot up after three other suspects, said to be Kenyan Somalis arrested by Kenyan authorities last week, were handed over to Ugandan authorities on Tuesday.

Plans to have them charged in courts were in their final stages, sources said.

Details were, however, scanty on how they could have been involved in the attacks although preliminary findings indicate that at least two Kenyans and a Tanzanian could have helped sneak the bombs into the country.

The al-Shabaab militants claimed responsibility for the twin attacks, saying they were avenging the presence of Ugandan peace-keepers in Somalia.