At least ten dead in attack in Cabo Delgado village – AIM report

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At least ten dead in attack in Cabo Delgado village – AIM report

8:19 CAT | 24 Sep 2018

Terrorists, believed to be Islamic fundamentalists, killed ten people on Thursday night in an attack against the village of Pequeue in Macomia district, in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado, according to a report by the independent television station STV.

14 people were injured in the attack, and 53 houses were burnt down. The raiders looted all the medicines from the local health post and then set it on fire.

The attack began at about 21.30 and lasted for about an hour. The raiders began by firing into the air, apparently to check whether any members of the defence and security forces were in the village. Since there were no police or soldiers nearby, the jihadists were able to burn and loot without meeting much resistance.

A village leader told STV that 3,285 people live in the village. They have no guns and could only resist the raiders with traditional weapons such as bows and arrows and machetes.

STV was the first of the media to arrive on the scene and found that, unlike several other villages that have come under attack, Pequeue has not been abandoned. Many of the villagers have opted to stay – perhaps because the defence and security forces have now set up a position nearby.

A report carried by the Zitamar News Service put the death toll at 12. Zitamar said that two of the dead were burned in their houses, while the other ten were shot, and one was subsequently beheaded.

This was the second terrorist attack on Thursday. An unconfirmed number of Mozambican soldiers died on Thursday morning in an ambush in Palma district, according to a report in Friday’s issue of the independent newssheet “Mediafax”.

Citing unnamed local sources, the paper said the ambush took place in the administrative post of Pundanhar, where members of the armed forces were patrolling in an armed vehicle. The attackers fired two bazookas at the vehicle and killed some of the occupants. The “Mediafax” source gave no number for the dead, but said they included a Colonel. Contacted by the paper, the local authorities neither confirmed nor denied the attack.

The STV team learnt of earlier attacks in Macomia that had not been reported. Thus on 23 August, two people were killed in an attack against the village of Ilala. On 7 September, the village of Namaneco came under attack, but no deaths were reported.

Locally the insurgents are usually called “Al Shabaab”, although this does not imply any direct connection with the Somali terrorist group of that name. It seems that the group calls itself Ahlu Sunna Wa-Jama.

The insurgency is centred on Mocimboa da Praia district, where the first attacks occurred on 5 October 2017. Subsequently the jihadists have also attacked targets in the neighbouring districts of Macomia, Palma and Nangade.

Source: AIM