Insurgents attack vehicle in Mocímboa da Praia, killing three – Carta

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Insurgents attack vehicle in Mocímboa da Praia, killing three – Carta

3:12 CAT | 20 Jan 2020

File photo: Lusa

Roma is a village just a few kilometres from the headquarters of the administrative post of Diaca, in Mocímboa da Praia district, Cabo Delgado province.

It was here that, at around 5:00 a.m. on Thursday, insurgents attacked a Canter vehicle travelling on the Mueda – Vila de Mocímboa da Praia route, Carta de Moçambique reports today.

The vehicle, owned by a businessman from Awasse, was routinely used to provide passenger transport on that section of road.

Sources report that three people – the driver, his assistant and one passenger – were fatally wounded in the incident. The other passengers escaped “by the skin of their teeth”, and the vehicle was torched by the attackers.

It was the second vehicle to pass along that now-dangerous stretch of road last Thursday morning. The first, belonging to a Mocímboa da Praia operator, made the voyage without incident.

Meanwhile, on the same Thursday morning, a citizen escaped an attempted robbery by a group of men wearing military uniforms on the road between the villages of Mocímboa da Praia and Anga. The individual abandoned his motorbike and ran away when confronted by the armed robbers. His motorcycle was similarly burned.

It should be noted that a military unit stationed in the upper part of the Milamba neighbourhood is accused of mistreating the surrounding population, neither adults nor children daring to go pick fruit from the mango trees near the soldiers’ encampment for fear of abuse.

Pedestrians using a traditional right of way which passes nearby are also denied passage by the military.

In another event on the same day, malefactors set ablaze several huts in the community of Moma, located between Ulo and Nabadje, but without causing any casualties.

Uneasy nights in Magaia after attacks by insurgents

Residents of Magaia village, in Cabo Delgado’s Muidumbe district, are also experiencing uncertainty and fear following attacks by insurgents on 10 and 11 January.

One Magaia resident told Carta that, on the first day of the attacks, the insurgents went to the village and killed three people, setting fire to some houses. The raid took place between 5:00 and 11:00 a.m.. While the residents took refuge in the woods, the attackers stayed in the village, cooking and eating, and only afterwards left.

Of the three persons killed, all young males, two were residents, and the third, a member of the community policing forum.

On the second day, the insurgents returned at about 1:00 p.m., and again set fire to houses. They remained in the village until about 4:00 p.m.. The whole village was in turmoil and the residents took refuge in te ‘quarto bairro’ [fourth neighbourhood]

“We did not eat that day, as much of our food was burned inside the houses, but our salvation was the mangoes, which we picked and ate. Sleep was also “so-so”, since, sadly, there was no response from the Defence and Security Forces,” one resident related.

There is only fear in Magaia since the attacks, and a dearth of peaceful nights and happy days.

Source: Carta de Moçambique