Mozambique: Trucks again block the N4 highway to South Africa
Mozambique: Residents of two Cabo Delgado villages flee for fear of alleged insurgents
2:11 CAT | 21 Nov 2024
FILE - For illustration purposes only. Chiúre town. [File photo: Lusa]
Some residents of Napala and Ntonhane villages in Cabo Delgado province, northern Mozambique, have fled in response to the alleged approach of groups of terrorists, sources from the communities told Lusa on Thursday.
“My grandmothers, including one who is sick, are in the woods. There is a strong warning of the possible approach of terrorists in the communities,” said one source, speaking from the Chiúre district headquarters town.
He added that possible movement of alleged insurgents towards Napala and Ntonhane began on Tuesday, after a group of peasants saw an armed unknown man in the interior of Chiúre district in the south of Cabo Delgado.
“Right there in Napala, people started noticing strange movements. One couple said they saw men wielding blunt instruments and firearms, so the alert was raised and some families are now in the woods,” a source added.
The situation is also causing apprehension in Chiúre, the district headquarters town, where the possibility of leaving the town for Pemba, the provincial capital city, located about 150 kilometres away, is being discussed.
“Even here [in] Chiúre, the headquarters, we are in a bad situation, because it is close, we don’t know for how long,” another source lamented.
Since October 2017, the gas-rich province of Cabo Delgado has been facing an armed insurgency by movements associated with the fundamentalist Islamic State group.
The last major attack took place on 10 and 11 May, in the district headquarters of Macomia, with around a hundred insurgents looting the town, causing several deaths and heavy fighting with the Mozambican Defence and Security Forces and Rwandan soldiers, who are supporting Mozambique in the fight against the rebels.
Source: Lusa
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