Ugandan Terror Trial Prosecutor Shot Dead

A major terrorism trial in Uganda has been suspended after one of the senior prosecutors in the case was shot dead in what police say could be a targeted killing.

Joan Kagezi was one of the lead members of the prosecution team in the trial of 13 people suspected of involvement in twin bombings by the Somali Islamist group al Shabaab in Kampala in 2010.

Ms Kagezi was fatally wounded at around 8pm on Monday in Kiwatule, a suburb of the Ugandan capital, after stopping to buy fruit at the side of the road.

A police spokesman said it appeared she was shot through her car window by two men who had followed her on a motorbike.

Her three children, who were also in the vehicle, escaped unhurt.

"Her death is a big loss to the country," Uganda's police chief Kale Kayihura said.

"The murder of Joan Kagezi should only serve to increase our resolve to hunt down and bring to justice all those elements bent on disturbing the security and development of our country."

Officers are now looking into the possibility that the killing was linked to Ms Kagezi's work in finding those responsible for the bomb attacks in 2010, which killed at least 79 people watching the football World Cup final at a restaurant and sports club.

Al Shabaab said the attacks were carried out in response to Uganda sending troops to support the Somali military's war against the militants.

Lawyers involved in the case will now meet the presiding judges to decide how and when the trial will continue.

The US Embassy in Uganda warned recently of "possible terrorist threats" to places in the country popular with westerners.

The Somali-based militant group has carried out a series of attacks in neighbouring countries, including an assault on the Westgate shopping centre in Nairobi in September 2013 .