Mozambique: Security re-established in around 90% of Cabo Delgado - army
The Mozambican defence and security forces have killed eight suspects, believed to be members of the islamist group, known locally as “Al-Shabaab”, that has been spreading terror in parts of the northern province of Cabo Delgado, according to a Saturday report on the independent television station, STV.
The clash took place on Wednesday in the area of the 25th June village, in Palma district. This was one of the two villages attacked by the islamists on Sunday night. During those raids ten villagers were beheaded.
Alguns dos jovens nativos de Palma que em colaboração com as Forças Militares abateram ontem 9 elementos do grupo extremista que desde Outubro têm aterrorizado #CaboDelgado. A “caça” foi desencadeada logo depois do grupo radical ter decapitado mais um jovem local. #Moçambique pic.twitter.com/hxv5z0BSrR
— Alexandre Zerinho (@AllexandreMZ) June 2, 2018
Official sources will say nothing about the latest clashes, but individual members of the defence forces who spoke to STV confirmed that eight presumed islamists had been killed. At the site of the clash, the defence forces found one AK-47 assault rifle, several machetes, a Tanzanian passport, and assorted foodstuffs.
Eye-witnesses have now provided a few more details about the weekend atrocities. According to a report in the latest issue of the independent weekly “Savana”, the first people murdered were two teenagers from the 25th June village, aged 15 and 16, who were seized by the islamists while they were out hunting.
A young man, who requested anonymity told the paper “the boys left home early on Saturday morning, and had not returned by the end of the day. This worried their families who asked the neighbours for help. But as it was already night, they could do nothing further. They had to wait until dawn and then they were found dead”.
A further three adults were found, beheaded and their bodies thrown into the bush.
On Sunday, the islamists attacked the nearby village of Monjane. The raiders arrived when most of the moslem residents of the village were praying in the local mosque, after breaking the Ramadan fast.
Five people who were not praying were seized by the jihadists and beheaded. “Savana”’s source regarded the attack as clearly sectarian in nature, since those killed were presumed to be non-moslem. Monjane is a village were some of the residents follow the Islamic faith, but others are Christians.
Other villagers who were not at the mosque fled and alerted a unit of the defence and security forces to what had happened.
ALSO READ: Hunt for suspected attackers continues in northern Mozambique – police
Meanwhile, the Cabo Delgado provincial authorities have allowed the re-opening of three mosques closed at the end of 2017 because they were believed to be linked to the islamists. These mosques were in the Chuiba and Alto Gingone neighbourhoods of the town of Montepuez.
Sheik Nassarulahe Dula, a local leader of the Mozambique Islamic Congress supported the decision to close the mosques because the jihadists “forbid children from going to official schools and hospitals. That’s not what Islam teaches”.
The mosques have been allowed to reopen because their leaderships have distanced themselves from the islamists and have promised to alert the authorities to any future attempt by extremist groups to use the mosques.
ALSO READ: Mozambique: Six mosques reopened, seven “actually destroyed” in Cabo Delgado
Cabo Delgado: Authorities close mosques with alleged links to armed attacks in northern Mozambique
The islamist insurgency has now led some people to flee from their homes. In the town of Macomia, STV found dozens of people who had fled from Quiterajo, a village 90 kilometres from the town, where “Al-Shabaab” had murdered two people on 16 May [ Please see the photo above, from ‘O País’].
“Al-Shabaab” means “the youth” in Arabic, and the use of the term does not imply any direct connection with the Somali terrorist group of that name.
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