Mozambique: Police have no clues on murder of a GOE officer in Matola
Image: Wikimedia Commons
Three people died in a terrorist raid on Thursday night against the Mariria village in Meluco district, in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado, according to a report in Monday’s issue of the independent newssheet “Carta de Mocambique”.
This was the second attack against Mariria in the space of a week. Local sources said the Mozambican defence and security forces responded to the attack and forced the terrorists to retreat. But by then many frightened villagers had fled into the bush and spent the night there.
The paper’s sources also claimed that the soldiers threatened some of the civilian population when they emerged from their hiding places, because they suspected they were members of the terrorist group.
Because of the terrorist raids, civilian vehicles are no longer using the main roads in Meluco district. To leave Meluco town, citizens are now using a dirt road which leads to the main road between the provincial capital, Pemba, and Montepuez district.
Some transport operators have reacted by hiking their prices. The journey from Mitambo village to Pemba used to cost 200 meticais (slightly more than three US dollars) – but the fare has now risen to 500 meticais.
In Nangade district, 30 people, mostly women and children, have been rescued from captivity, and are now in the hands of the Nangade district police command. They told the authorities they escaped after the terrorists abandoned the base where they were being held because of the military offensive by the Mozambican forces and SAMIM (SADC Mission in Mozambique).
They said that some of the women had been raped by their captors. They had been fed nothing but cassava, and so some of the former captives, particularly the children, were showing signs of malnutrition.
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