KAMPALA, Feb 25, 2006 (AFP) Three people were wounded when attackers threw an explosive device at security forces in the Ugandan capital, police said Saturday, accusing the opposition of planning violent post-election protests.

Kampala police chief Kale Kaihura said two soldiers and a young bystander were injured late Friday when the device detonatated near a military police patrol in the Kisenyi slum area in the city’s southwest.

Kaihura told reporters the wounds were not life-threatening but said the incident was evidence of a plot by opposition leader Kizza Besigye’s Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) to create chaos after losing Thursday’s elections.

"The FDC has threatened that there will be chaos after the elections," he said. "When we see this incident, we don’t take it lightly, we don’t take it to be an act of a demented character."

Kaihura said police had seized 18 Molotov cocktail petrol bombs from hidden stockpiles after tip-offs from informants and that authorities were aware of alleged meetings at which FDC were plotting to sow terror and civic unrest.

"They have been holding meetings, we know where these meetings have been taking place, who has been attending them and what has been discussed," he said, adding that the authorities were prepared to counter any violence.

"We shall ensure the security of our people, nobody should feel intimidated," Kaihura said. "Whoever is planning trouble is going to see fire."

His comments came at a news conference called after Uganda’s Electoral Commission announced that President Yoweri Museveni holds an insurmountable lead in the country’s first multi-party polls since 1980.

The FDC has already threatened to reject the results, alleging widespread fraud and irregularities in the voting and tabulation process.

The FDC denounced Kaihura’s allegations as a "blatant lie," denied any meetings had been held to plan violence and said the group was not interested in violence but wanted its concerns addressed.

"That is a blatant lie," FDC spokeswoman Salah Epenu told AFP. "We are not a military organization and we don’t believe in changing a government through violent means."