Another armed attack on bus in central Mozambique – two injured

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Another armed attack on bus in central Mozambique – two injured

2:43 CAT | 03 Dec 2019

FILE: For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Getty Images]

Another armed attack on a bus on National Road 1 (EN1) in central Mozambique yesterday (Monday) caused minor injuries to two, local sources told Lusa today.

The bus was hit by a “blast of bullets” to its side near Muda Serração, Gondola district, Manica province, a few minutes after it resumed progress on its journey towards Maputo.

The attack was launched at Ponte Nova, the same place a bus was attacked on Friday.

“We [passengers] had barely woken up. Many were still sleeping when panic shook the bus,” Matias Saule, one of the passengers, told Lusa by telephone.

“Then we realised it was an attack. The windows were broken and two women were wounded,” he added.

The shots came out of the woods where the road passes between two hills about 300 metres from the village of Chibuto, another passenger continued. The driver drove on to the village of Muxúnguè, where the victims were treated.

Mozambican police have not yet commented on Monday’s attack, but have already blamed the Renamo dissidents of the self-proclaimed Military Junta for Friday’s incident.

Mateus Mindu, spokesman for the Police of the Republic of Mozambique (PRM), said Mozambique’s defence and security forces had intensified patrols along the EN1 to ensure the road remained passable.

Mindu said six passengers were injured in Friday’s attack, two more than witnesses told Lusa at the scene. One of them remained in a serious condition, and was transferred to Beira Central Hospital yesterday (Monday), Lusa has learned.

The attacks follow others which have killed 10 people since August on roads and settlements in the provinces of Manica and Sofala, where dissident guerrillas led by Mariano Nhongo are entrenched.

The group has threatened to resort to armed violence in its search for better social reintegration conditions than those agreed by its party with the government, but also refuses to take responsibility for the attacks.

Source: Lusa