Mozambique: Police detain four posing as insurgents, torching, looting 14 homes

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Mozambique: Police detain four posing as insurgents, torching, looting 14 homes

7:09 CAT | 06 Jul 2022

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

Mozambican police on Wednesday announced the detention of four men suspected of setting fire to 14 houses in Cabo Delgado, northern Mozambique, posing as terrorists to loot residents of the province facing an armed insurgency.

“They were posing as terrorists to loot goods from the local residents,” Mario Adolfo, a police spokesman, told journalists in Pemba, the provincial capital.

The four men who were detained last week are suspected of having set fire to 12 homes in Montepuez and two others in Ancuabe following the latest wave of armed attacks in southern Cabo Delgado.

“They took advantage of the fragility of the residents,” the spokesman said, adding that the police had already made two other detentions related to the same type of crime.

READ: Cabo Delgado: Two arrested for allegedly simulating terrorist attacks to loot – RM

The police said 44 houses had been burnt down in recent months in the districts of Ancuabe, Metuge and Montepuez by individuals posing as terrorists in Cabo Delgado.

The province is rich in natural gas but has been terrorised since 2017 by armed rebels, with some attacks claimed by the extremist group Islamic State.

There are 784,000 internally displaced people due to the conflict, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and around 4,000 deaths, according to the ACLED conflict registration project.

Source: AIM