Mozambique: Insurgents moving around Ancuabe communities

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Mozambique: Insurgents moving around Ancuabe communities

7:28 CAT | 21 Apr 2025

Image: Google Earth

The circulation of suspected terrorists in four communities in the district of Ancuabe, in the Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado, is causing residents to panic, local sources told Lusa on Monday.

These are the communities of Nnonia, Megane, Ngura and Nkole, more than 50 kilometres from the district headquarters of Ancuabe, which have been on alert since Friday due to the presence of suspected terrorists, especially in agricultural production areas.

“We’re talking about communities that are experiencing their worst days, terrorists are moving around there at will,” said a resident of Ancuabe, a district located more than 100 kilometres from the provincial capital (Pemba).

According to local sources, the alleged armed men have set up clandestine tolls and are collecting money from users along the EN14 national road.

The communities of Nnonia, Ngura, Megane and Nkole have been without a mobile phone network for almost two weeks and the communities suspect that this is the result of sabotage by alleged terrorist groups circulating in the communities.

“We’re scared, there’s no network there, nobody can talk to their relatives now because the aerial has been dismantled,” another source told Lusa from Ancuabe.

The last major attack by alleged terrorists in the district of Ancuabe, in the southern region of Cabo Delgado province, took place on 17 November 2024, in the village of Nacuale, just over 20 kilometres from the town, resulting in at least 15 deaths.

Since October 2017, the gas-rich province of Cabo Delgado has been facing an armed rebellion with attacks claimed by movements associated with the extremist group Islamic State.

In 2024 alone, at least 349 people died in attacks by Islamic extremist groups in northern Mozambique, an increase of 36% on the previous year, according to a study released by the Africa Centre for Strategic Studies (ACSS), an academic institution of the US government’s Department of Defence.

Source: Lusa