Cabo Delgado: Attack on Mbau causes several deaths, Islamic State claims action – Lusa report

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Cabo Delgado: Attack on Mbau causes several deaths, Islamic State claims action – Lusa report

1:35 CAT | 28 Jan 2020

File photo: Lusa

An armed group attacked the administrative post of Mbau in Mocímboa da Praia, northern Mozambique last Thursday, causing several deaths, residents told Lusa on Monday. The attack has been claimed by the ‘jihadist’ group, Islamic state.

According to local residents’ reports, the attack on the military position tookm place in the morning, targeting members of the Mozambican Defence and Security Forces and the general population in the vicinity – a total of 15 people.

On the following day (Friday), another attack was recorded in Chinta, Muidumbe, further inland, although without any casualties.

In a message posted online, ISIS claimed the attack on Mbau, claiming that 22 military personnel died and others were injured.

“The clashes involved various types of weaponry,” the group announced, claiming that it had seized two vehicles loaded with automatic weapons and ammunition during the incident.

Mozambique: ISCAP claims credit: According to claim killed 22 Mozambican soldiers and injured others in attack on military barracks in Mbau area of Cabo Delgado Province, Mozambique
We now stand at 23 claims credit and one photo report pic.twitter.com/Y6BCK20Mwe

— Jasmine Opperman (@Jasminechic00) January 23, 2020

Maior attack in Mbau, Mocimboa da Praia, #CaboDelgado on 22 and 23 January 2020. Insurgents took over military base, killed 15 to 22 soldiers. ISIS media were first to report event… https://t.co/zuzyhkUwlP

— Eric Morier-Genoud (@emorier) January 24, 2020

The Mbau area of Cabo Delgado has been the scene of other clashes between armed groups and the military since September, when several houses were destroyed, forcing many residents to flee elsewhere.

Armed attacks in the province of Cabo Delgado broke out in 2017, allegedly carried out by residents – mosque-goers considered “radicalised” by foreigners, according to local Islamic leaders, with whom there was growing friction.

Authorship of the attacks has not been credibly claimed, although communiques from the Islamic State, with alleged photos of the action, have since June claimed some of them, but experts and authorities consider any Islamic State presence on the ground hardly credible.

The attacks have already claimed at least 350 lives, as well as leaving some 60,000 persons affected or forced to leave their lands and their places of residence, according to the latest revision of the United Nations’ global humanitarian aid plan.

The province of Cabo Delgado is home to the megaprojects now in progress which will in four years’ time put Mozambique in the top 10 of global natural gas producers, with Portuguese companies and workers among the dozens of contractors hired by the oil company consortia.

Source: Lusa