Four killed in attack on Macorococho health centre, Nhamatanda – Mozambique

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Four killed in attack on Macorococho health centre, Nhamatanda – Mozambique

2:36 CAT | 22 Jan 2020

Map: Relief Web

Four people died and one was injured during an armed attack on a health centre in the village of Macorococho, in Nhamatanda district, Sofala, several sources told Lusa yesterday.

An armed group invaded the village on Monday evening at around 7:00 p.m., and fired at the health centre and at the homes of the technical personnel located nearby.

The gang then plundered the health unit, stole medication and set it on fire, a witness said.

“It was raining and starting to get dark, when shots were fired at the health centre. We realised that it was an attack, and ran away,” says Sebastiana Mateus, who spent the night with her two daughters under a tree in a forest near the village.

Resident António Chiranga reported that, “When they arrived at the health centre they started shooting”, saying that the population “began to flee disoriented” into the forest nearby, and adding that several people were killed.

The victims were one a woman who had just left the hospital after a consultation, and three men fatally shot near the health centre, another resident said.

“Three men died and a woman was seriously injured, losing her life later,” a health centre worker who survived the attack confirmed.

The husband of a nurse at the clinic is missing, the same source said, while ‘Voa Portugues’ reports that the home of the local head of post was also set on fire.

Another resident told Lusa that the population which had sought shelter in the forests began leaving Macorococho early on Tuesday morning and took refuge in the neighbouring villages of Mafufu, Macuácua and Ndindiri, after threats of further attacks.

“After the attack they (the attackers) left messages saying: ‘We are still here’,” Gedeão Mateus told Voa Portugues.

Monday’s attack took place close to where a police officer was shot dead in October during the attack on Metuchira’s police station, when a gun was also stolen.

Lusa contacted the spokesman for the Provincial Command of the Police of the Republic of Mozambique in Sofala, who said he was not aware of the events described.

The self-proclaimed Renamo ‘Military Junta’, a dissident faction of the main opposition party’s armed wing, has on several occasions threatened to carry out armed attacks after the inauguration of Filipe Nyusi for his second term as president.

Attacks attributed to the group on National Roads 1 and 6 (EN1 and EN6) in the provinces of Manica and Sofala have killed 21 people since 6 August last year.

Renamo has distanced itself from the group, classifying its members as deserters.

Source: Lusa / Voa Portugues