Mozambique: Insurgents attack farming community in Cabo Delgado – Lusa

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Mozambique: Insurgents attack farming community in Cabo Delgado – Lusa

9:53 CAT | 14 May 2025

Image: Google Maps

Residents of Miangalewa, in the Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado, reported son Tuesday an attack by groups of alleged terrorists there, about 20 kilometres from the district headquarters of Muidumbe, prompting residents to flee.

“There was an attack. My sister was there, but she fled to the plateau,” said a local source from Muidumbe, explaining that the attack took place last [week’s] Tuesday and that since then the population has decided to abandon the area, at a time when the second agricultural production season was being prepared.

“I was sowing tomatoes on the banks of the Messalo River, but when they came in, I left everything behind,” lamented another farmer from Miangalewa, unaware of any casualties from this attack.

According to local residents, the attack disrupted traffic on National Road 380, one of the few paved roads in the region, making districts further north difficult to access.

“I didn’t see a single car passing by. I think it’s because people fear encountering bandits on the road,” lamented another source.

The extremist group Islamic State claimed responsibility for a recent attack that reportedly killed 11 members of the Mozambican Armed Defence Forces (FADM) in that area.

According to the announcement made by the terrorist group on its propaganda channels, documented with photographs, the attack, which the Mozambican authorities have not yet commented on, took place in the district of Muidumbe, targeting a FADM position in the village of Miangalewa.

That area has been the scene of several known attacks in recent weeks by terrorist groups, as well as counterattacks by official paramilitary groups and FADM military personnel.

These attacks, allegedly by terrorist groups in Cabo Delgado, have been intensifying in recent weeks, including an action in the neighbouring province of Niassa, where two forest rangers were beheaded at the end of April.

In 2024, at least 349 people died in attacks by Islamic extremist groups in Cabo Delgado province, an increase of 36% over the previous year, according to data recently released by the Africa Centre for Strategic Studies, an academic institution of the US Department of Defence that analyses conflicts in Africa.

Source: Lusa