Cabo Delgado: Attack leaves five dead and destruction in Macomia – Watch

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Cabo Delgado: Attack leaves five dead and destruction in Macomia – Watch

3:44 CAT | 25 Oct 2022

Image: TVM

An unidentified armed group attacked the Vila Sede de Macomia, in central Cabo Delgado, Mozambique, on Sunday evening, killing five people and destroying houses and vehicles, local militia sources told Lusa yesterday.

Another six people were injured, three of whom were transferred to Pemba Hospital.

Mozambican and Rwandan troops stationed in the area responded to the attack.

According to a community source, the worst affected neighbourhood was Napulubo, where residents fled.

“There was intense fire; we are in the woods,” one of those displaced said.

Attack in Chiúre

Violence erupted a day after gunmen burned down a church in Namapamo, Chiúre district.

The attackers also looted the community, taking corn, rice and chickens, a source in the village said, lamenting the death of residents, whose bodies were found decapitated.

A group of soldiers was deployed to Namapamo and Micoleni, another village hit by incursions.

In statements to TVM, the Macomia district administrator confirmed the attack on the Vila Sede de Macomia, which he said started at around d8 p.m. on Sunday and lasted 40 to 45 minutes. The security forces were on the ground and life was returning to normal, he told TVM.

Watch the TVM report.

Cabo Delgado province is rich in natural gas, but has since 2017 been beset by armed violence, with some attacks claimed by the Islamic State extremist group.

The insurgency led to a military response a year ago by Rwandan and Southern African Development Community (SADC) forces, liberating districts near the province’s natural gas projects, but leading to a new wave of attacks in areas closer to Pemba, the provincial capital, and in the neighbouring province of Nampula.

The conflict has already cost more than 4,000 lives, according to the ACLED conflict register, and displaced more than 817,000 civilians (Mozambican authorities.

Source: Lusa / TVM