Mozambique: New attack by armed group in Cabo Delgado causes several deaths, victims beheaded

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Mozambique: New attack by armed group in Cabo Delgado causes several deaths, victims beheaded

11:55 CAT | 29 May 2018

An attack by an armed group on a rural village in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado has caused several deaths since Saturday, state television said on Monday.

Ten people, including two children, living in the village of Olumbi [also spelt Olumbe, Ulumbi or Ulumbe], 45 kilometres from the town of Palma, the district seat, have been kidnapped and beheaded, according to TVM, but authorities contacted by the station could not confirm the events as reported.

Reports on the Internet citing sources in the region point to five to seven dead in Olumbi.

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Lusa’s attempts at contacting the Police of the Republic of Mozambique (PRM), which confirms an operation in the area, but without further details.

David Machimbuko, the Palma district administrator, told TVM that the authorities had moved teams to Olumbi and another area where there were suspicions of threats in order to assess the situation. He said the attacks were made by “men who go to a particular place, make an incursion and then flee”.

Machimbuko referred any further enquiries about the situation to the police authorities.

The coastal zone of Cabo Delgado has been the target of attacks by armed groups since October 2017, when police stations were attacked in the district of Mocimboa da Praia, a village that was besieged for two days.

An investigation released last week and based on interviews in the region alleges that the groups use Islamic radicalism to attract followers, to whom they pay above-average incomes financed by illegal trade in timber, rubies, coal and ivory from the region.

According to the same study, the groups include members of radical movements trained by militias in the Great Lakes region, who in turn have links to the Al-Shabaab terrorist group in Somalia.

The attacks come just as investments in natural gas exploration involving some of the large oil companies in the world are moving ahead in Cabo Delgado, with production expected to start in five to six years time.

Source: Lusa