Monkeys go on rampage in Uganda, killing infant, injuring several people

KAMPALA, Uganda

Monkeys in the western Ugandan forest of Kiryandongo went on the rampage and attacked villages, killing a baby and injuring several people, a senior police official said Monday.

An infant was killed during the monkey attack, police spokesman Fred Enanga told journalists at the Uganda Media Center in the capital Kampala.

He said monkeys from the Kiryandongo forest assaulted nearby settlements in Mparanagasi village, Bulindi town council, Hoima district.

"Monkeys stormed Mparaganasi village in groups and tore apart a 7-month-old infant from his mother Nero Ogoja," he said, adding the baby died instantly.

According to the information the police received, the monkeys were quite wild and seemingly angry when they attacked the villages, Enanga said, adding they are now a danger to villagers, particularly farmers.

A forest officer in Hoima, Thomas Kiiza, said the monkeys are intruding on villages near the forests because humans have encroached on parts of the forests and turned them into villages. They also go inside the remaining forests and cut down trees as well as destroy the monkeys' food sources.

This is not the first time monkeys have killed a baby as on June 3 last year, monkeys killed two infants of Oliver Kemigisha, one aged three months and the other two years, in Kyamajaka village.

In 2014, monkeys killed three children in villages near forests.