Mozambique: Three killed in Mirate, Nairoto administrative post – local sources

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Mozambique: Three killed in Mirate, Nairoto administrative post – local sources

7:27 CAT | 01 Oct 2025

FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Voz de Cabo Delgado]

An attack by alleged terrorists left at least three people dead and destroyed several houses in the community of Mirate, in the region of Montepuez, in the south of Mozambique’s province of Cabo Delgado, local sources told Lusa on Tuesday.

The attack in that community in the administrative post of Nairoto took place around 7:00 p.m. on Sunday, when insurgents entered the village firing shots, fatally wounding three people.

“They killed three people in Mirate during Sunday night in the village. Everyone fled,” said a source, speaking from Montepuez district headquarters.

The alleged terrorists also burned an unspecified number of houses, causing residents to flee on foot through the woods to the Nairoto administrative post headquarters, which is about 50 kilometres from the site of the attack.

“People fled because they were not giving them any respite. With that fear, people ended up abandoning the [Mirate] community,” said the source.

The attack in Montepuez also created fear among users of the R692 road, which connects the regions of Montepuez and Mueda, on a 200-kilometre stretch of dirt road.

“The fear of cars is greater because Mirate is right on the road to Mueda,” explained another source.

The gas-rich province of Cabo Delgado, in the north of the country, has been facing an armed rebellion since 2017, which has caused thousands of deaths and a humanitarian crisis, with more than a million people displaced since then.

By the end of July, attacks by these groups had already displaced more than 57,000 people in the district of Chiúre, south of Cabo Delgado province, according to previous official data.

Meanwhile, the province has seen a resurgence of attacks by rebel groups, targeting the regions of Chiúre, Muidumbe, Quissanga, Ancuabe and Meluco. More recently, Mocímboa da Praia has also been targeted, with several deaths reported, leading Médecins Sans Frontières to suspend its local activities for security reasons.

Also on Sunday night, at least four people were killed and another was injured after an attack by alleged terrorists in the district capital of Macomia, Cabo Delgado.

According to local sources, the attack took place around 11 p.m. on Sunday (10 p.m. in Lisbon), with the victims being surprised and shot inside their homes in the Nanga neighbourhood, which is home to displaced people from other areas of the province.

“Terrorists entered and fatally shot four people and wounded one who was taken to hospital,” confirmed a source from Macomia.

After the attack, the extremists kidnapped at least seven people, whose whereabouts are unknown.

The attack shook the Nanga neighbourhood and the town of Macomia in general, causing some people to flee their homes.

Members associated with the extremist group Islamic State have since claimed responsibility for the attack on a village in Cabo Delgado, killing “Christians” and destroying at least two churches, at a time of ongoing violence in that Mozambican province.

The claim, made through Islamic State (IS) propaganda channels, states that the attack took place on Friday in a village in the Chiúre region, during which they claim to have set fire to “two churches and other properties”.

In 2024 alone, at least 349 people died in attacks in northern Mozambique, most of which were claimed by the extremist group Islamic State, an increase of 36% over the previous year, according to a study released by the Africa Centre for Strategic Studies (ACSS), an academic institution of the US Department of Defence.

Source: Lusa