KAMPALA, Uganda — If Ugandan police investigators are right, the size of the conspiracy behind the twin bombings during July's World Cup finals could hardly have been bigger.
Ugandan police — with help from the FBI and Kenyan police — have arrested 36 people from seven countries in the wake of blasts that rocked Uganda's capital, killing 76 people.
The suspects hail from at least three countries with known terror links: Somalia, Yemen and Pakistan. At least one suspect said he was recruited and trained by al-Qaida. The Somali militant group that claimed responsibility for the blast, al-Shabab, has known links with the international terror group.
Uganda's director of military intelligence, James Mugira, has said al-Qaida is at least partly responsible, although authorities believe the planning took place in Somalia.
A day after the blasts, al-Shabab, Somalia's most powerful militant group, said the bombings were retaliation for Ugandan troops' participation in the African Union peacekeeping mission in Mogadishu. The militant group promised more attacks, a threat Ugandan officials take seriously.
"Uganda cannot say that what happened on July 11th, 2010 cannot happen again," said army spokesman Felix Kulayigye. "It has happened in countries with better technology and better-facilitated security organizations than ours. We can only minimize it but cannot stop it."
The suspects in custody come from a wide background: businessmen, university students, and leaders of small mosques. Other suspects come from Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.
"The conspiracy is really very big," said James Okello, a senior police investigator told The Associated Press. "It involves many people who also seem to be well-funded."
Edward Ochom, the head of Uganda's criminal investigations department, said the arrests show Uganda can successfully hunt down terrorists on its soil.
Human rights officials, though, say some of the suspects have nothing to do with the bombings and were taken in because they are people of interest to the FBI and Kenyan authorities. Lawyer Ladislaus Rwakafuuzi represents eight Kenyans charged in the attacks. He said there is no evidence against most of his clients.