Pistol, Grenade Attack Injures Uganda Judge

Two men fired a pistol and threw a grenade in a crowded courtroom Thursday, critically wounding the chief magistrate and his clerk and temporarily freeing the defendant, witnesses said.

The attack occurred as Chief Magistrate John O’Bwangamoi was conducting a preliminary hearing for an army sergeant charged with murder and robbery. Two unidentified men in civilian clothes staged the attack and then fled in the confusion, according to accounts pieced together at the scene. The defendant, Okeny Omuge, also escaped, but police captured him about a mile from the court building in downtown Kampala. The two assailants escaped.