UPDATE: Death toll in school attack in Uganda rises to at least 41: Media

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The death toll in an attack on a school in western Uganda has risen to at least 41 from 25 announced earlier by police, Ugandan media outlets said on Saturday.

Privately-owned NTV Uganda television said on Twitter that the toll stood at 41, while state-run New Vision newspaper said it was 42.

Police, who said militants linked to Islamic State were behind the attack, had earlier put the toll at 25.

Members of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a Ugandan group based in eastern Congo that has pledged allegiance to Islamic State, attacked Lhubirira secondary school in Mpondwe, burning a dormitory and looting food late on Friday, police said.

“So far 25 bodies have been recovered from the school and transferred to Bwera Hospital. Also recovered are eight victims, who remain in critical condition at Bwera Hospital,” Ugandan police said on Twitter.

Police did not say how many of the dead were schoolchildren.

Soldiers were pursuing the attackers who fled towards Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, police added.

In April, the ADF attacked a village in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, killing at least 20 people.

Uganda has sent troops into Congo to help fight the ADF.