Other students have been abducted and a dormitory in the school has been set on fire in the attack, believed to have been carried out by Ugandan militants with ties to the Islamic State group.

The mayor of Mpondwe the town where the attack took place, near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, said 41 bodies have so far been recovered, including 38 students.

Mayor Selevest Mapoze said that while some of the students had suffered fatal burns in the dormitory fire, others had been shot or hacked with machetes.

One guard and two members of the local community were also shot and killed outside the school, he said.

According to Ugandan police, the raid was carried out by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), who have been launching attacks from their bases in Democratic Republic of the Congo for years.