Watch: Islamic extremists strike in Nangade – AIM report

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Watch: Islamic extremists strike in Nangade – AIM report

10:01 CAT | 17 Jan 2018

Miramar

An unidentified group, believed to be islamic extremists, attacked a village in Nangade district, in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado on Monday, killing two people and injuring a third.

The spokesperson for the General Command of the Mozambican police, Inacio Dina, confirmed the attack on Tuesday, during his weekly press briefing.

Dina said that one of those killed was a worker at a Nangade health post, and the second was the wife of a local businessman. He said the raiders vandalised several buildings in the village of Nkonga and stole all the medicines from the health post.

When they attacked the businessman’s house, they demanded money and then shot the businessman and killed his wife. In houses where other traders live, the group successfully demanded money from their victims.

Local sources, cited in Wednesday’s issue of the independent newsheet “Mediafax”, say the group also stole food from stalls in the Nkonga market. When they left, they took eight motorbikes and ten goats.

“The Defence and Security Forces are on the ground, pursuing the group”, said Dina. “They intend to arrest the attackers, hold them responsible for their acts, and recover the stolen property”.

Nangade borders on Mocimboa da Praia and Palma, the other two Cabo Delgado districts that have suffered from islamist attacks. The islamist insurgency began with coordinated attacks on three police premises in Mocimboa da Praia on 5 October.

Although the police quickly regained control of Mocimboa town, sporadic attacks have continued, and have now spread to the two neighbouring districts. On Saturday night, the insurgents attacked the Olumbe administrative post in Palma, killing five people and wounding a further 11. Two days later came the attack in Nangade.

The police have been reluctant to blame the same group for all the attacks, with Dina claiming it would be “premature” to draw that conclusion. But sources on the ground in Cabo Delgado have no doubt that all the raids are the work of an islamic fundamentalist group, referred to locally as “Al-Shabaab” (although it does not seem to have any direct connection with the Somali terrorist group of that name).

So far, the police have detained over 300 people in connection with the attacks. Dina said that most of them are Mozambicans, but the group also contains foreigners, mainly Tanzanians. Both Palma and Nangade districts border on Tanzania.

The general commander of the Mozambican police, Bernadino Rafael, visited Dar es Salaam on Monday, and signed a protocol with his Tanzanian counterpart, Simon Nyankoro Sirro, for cooperation in the fight against terrorism, and cross-border crime.

The protocol lists a large number of crimes, but there can be little doubt that that most important provision is that the two police forces must give a combined response to incursions by terrorist groups. This clause will allow the Mozambican defence and security forces to call on Tanzanian assistance for the fight against Islamic fundamentalists in Cabo Delgado.