Mozambique: Three armed men kill member of local force, set fire to houses in Nova Família, Muidumbe – Lusa report

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Mozambique: Three armed men kill member of local force, set fire to houses in Nova Família, Muidumbe – Lusa report

3:18 CAT | 26 Aug 2022

File photo: Lusa

Three armed men on Wednesday afternoon killed a member of a militia force and set fire to 30 houses, in Muidumbe district, Cabo Delgado province, northern Mozambique, several local sources told Lusa on Friday.

The attack took place in the community of Nova Família, in the south of the district of Muidumbe, members of the population said.

“There were three men, all hooded, we suspect they are terrorists because when they entered [the village], they started shooting and hit a member of the local force, who died on the spot,” said one source, who asked not to be identified.

The victim was killed while on patrol, as part of the fight against armed groups terrorising districts of Cabo Delgado province since October 2017.

As well as killing the member of the local force, as the militiaman that supports government forces in the war against rebels in Cabo Delgado is known, the insurgents burnt 30 houses predominantly made from grass, another source reported.

A militiaman told Lusa that security had been reinforced in the community of Nova Família following the incursion by the armed men.

Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado 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 748 internally displaced people due to the conflict, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and 4000 deaths, according to the conflict registration project, ACLED.

Since July, an offensive by government troops with Rwandan support, later joined by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), allowed areas where rebels had been present to recover, but their flight has provoked new attacks, in other districts used as a passage or temporary refuge.

Source: Lusa