Listen: Two individuals beheaded in Lumumua, Mucojo – reports

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Listen: Two individuals beheaded in Lumumua, Mucojo – reports

7:09 CAT | 26 Oct 2021

FILE PHOTO - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: DW]

A group of armed men dressed in military uniform on Friday 22-10 decapitated two people collecting water from a well in the village of Lumumua, in Mucojo administrative post, in the coastal region of Macomia, Mozambique, several local sources told VOA this Sunday.

Three people escaped the attack with their lives. Local residents suspect the incident is linked to the Islamic-inspired terrorist group known as al-Shaabab, in a region that has a strong presence of joint forces fighting the group linked to the Islamic State.

According to residents, the five people came from the island of Matemo in search of drinking water in the neighbouring village of Lumumua, on the mainland.

At the traditional well, two people were collecting the water, while another three transported the filled containers to the beach, where a small boat had docked.

“Those who were at the well were surprised and beheaded,” and their bodies abandoned there, Macomia Ismael Assane resident told VOA, citing a nephew who survived the attack.

“Another three survived because they managed to escape,” he added.

A few kilometres from the site of the attack there is a position of the mission of the Southern African Development Community, called SAMIM

Groups still active

Small pockets of the terrorist group locally known as al-Shaabab had already been reported in September, with attacks on villages of Mueda and Quissanga districts leaving people dead and burning huts.

Military sources report that military operations by Rwanda, SADC (SAMIM) and Mozambican forces continue in the recovered areas in the districts of Macomia, Nangade, Mocímboa da Praia, Mueda and Palma, suggesting that outbreaks of insurgency persist in these regions.

Terrain data show that groups of dozens of insurgents are still active in the Macomia-Nangade-Mueda region and that fighting still occurs in these regions.

The armed conflict in Cabo Delgado has already cost more than 3,100 lives, according to the ACLED conflict registration project, and displaced more than 820,000 people, according to the Mozambican authorities.

Source: Voa Portugues