Mozambique: Rebels reportedly ‘recognised and identified’ one of the six killed in Pulo – local sources | Lusa

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Mozambique: Rebels reportedly ‘recognised and identified’ one of the six killed in Pulo – local sources | Lusa

3:49 CAT | 11 Mar 2024

Image: Google Maps

At least six people died in Wednesday’s (06-03) attack on the village of Pulo in Metuge district, Cabo Delgado province, local sources told Lusa this Monday.

The attack occurred less than 30 kilometres from the district headquarters town of Metuge at around 2:00 p.m. on March 6, while the victims were already fleeing the insurgents’ invasion of the village, the sources added.

“They killed six people. And the strangest thing is that, when one of those people was hit and fell to the ground, the rebels recognized and identified him,” a source speaking from Metuge told Lusa.

Initial reports by Lusa confirmed only one fatality.

According to the same source, the terrorists’ behaviour after entering the village confirmed suspicions of there being members of the community among them, thereby facilitating the incursion.

“In addition to mentioning the name of one of the fatal victims, the rebels also recognized the head of the village as he fled on a motorbike,” the source further reported.

The insurgents also burned four traditionally built houses in the village. “They caused damage, they burned residents’ houses,” complained one of the victims, speaking from Metuge.

Since the attack, the Defence and Security Forces have been on the ground monitoring the situation.

70 students locked up in a room

More than 70 students from a school in Pulo were locked in the classroom for hours by insurgents during the attack, but escaped unharmed, local sources had previously told Lusa.

The group, which included as teacher from the school, was taken by surprise during a Grade 5 Natural Science class, with the insurgents entering the room and forcing them to remain inside.

“It was a nightmarish situation. My son was there. The rebels arrived and forced everyone to stay in the room while they waited for orders from who knows who,” a source from the local community who was reunited with her child four hours later told Lusa from Metuge.

According to other sources in the village, the insurgents told the population that they did not intend to mistreat the children and that they locked them inside the school merely to prevent communication while they burned the houses and looted the products.

After several months of relative normality in districts affected by armed violence in Cabo Delgado, the province has again been registering new movements and attacks by rebel groups, which have limited circulation to some points on the few paved roads that give access to the districts.

The new wave of terrorist attacks in Cabo Delgado, in northern Mozambique, displaced 99,313 people in February, including 61,492 children (62%), according to an estimate released this week by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The Mozambican Minister of National Defense, Cristóvão Chume, on February 29 confirmed attacks by insurgents in four districts of Cabo Delgado province, but said that this did not constitute “a resurgence” of terrorist activities in the north.

“I want to say that this is not what is happening, because if that were actually the case, we would be saying that there are districts or district headquarters that are occupied, with no access for the population. What is happening is that there are small groups of terrorists who left the their base in the Namarussia area and went further south, attacking some villages and creating panic,” Minister Chume said.

Source: Lusa