Police in Kampala seized "substantial amounts of explosives" and suicide vests in raids on a suspected al-Shabaab cell that was planning an imminent attack, a Ugandan official said in an interview on Sunday.

Police arrested 19 people in the operation on Saturday, and Information Minister Rose Namayanja urged the public to "remain vigilant" as Uganda continues its investigation into the planned attack.

"The operation is still going on," Namayanja said. "We just want to ensure that we exhaust all the leads so that there are no more terrorist cells."