The death toll from an attack on a school in western Uganda by militants linked to the so-called Islamic State group has risen to 37, the country's army has said.
Earlier, police said the Allied Democratic Forces militia (ADF), which is based in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, attacked a secondary school in Mpondwe late yesterday where "a dormitory was burnt and food store looted".
Boys and girls were among the dead, the spokesman added.
The school is less than 2km from the border.
District Commissioner Joe Walusimbi told AFP that a number of students were still unaccounted for.
Enanga said the army and police units were in "hot pursuit" of the attackers who fled in the direction of Virunga National Park over the border in DR Congo.
A vast expanse on the border with Uganda and Rwanda, Virunga is the oldest nature reserve in Africa and is renowned worldwide as a sanctuary for rare species, including mountain gorillas.
Militias - of which dozens are active in eastern DR Congo - also the use the park as a hideout.
Tánaiste Micheál Martin said he was "shocked and appalled at the terrible violence and tragic loss of so many young lives".
In a social media post, Mr Martin said the Government "utterly condemn this cowardly attack on innocent children and civilians".
Originally insurgents in Uganda, the ADF gained a foothold in eastern DR Congo in the 1990s and have since been accused of killing thousands of civilians.
Since 2019, some ADF attacks in eastern DR Congo have been claimed by the Islamic State group, which describes the fighters as a local offshoot, the Islamic State Central Africa Province.
It is not the first attack on a school in Uganda attributed to the militia.
In June 1998, 80 students were burnt to death in their dormitories in an ADF attack on Kichwamba Technical Institute near the border of DR Congo. More than 100 students were abducted.
Uganda and DR Congo launched a joint offensive in 2021 to drive the ADF out of their Congolese strongholds, but the measures have so far failed to end the group's attacks.
In March this year, the United States announced a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to the capture of the ADF's leader.
