Mozambique: Cyclone Dikeledi kills 11 in Nampula province
Two buses attacked, 5 injured in central Mozambique
12:16 CAT | 03 Apr 2020
FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Lusa]
Two attacks on buses on National Road Number 1 (EN1) in the Mutindiri area yesterday wounded five people, witnesses and authorities told Lusa yesterday.
In the first attack, a bus traveling northwards on Mozambique main north-south artery was hit by several shots on the driver’s side at about 8:00 a.m., shortly after passing through the village of Mutindiri. Three people, including the driver, suffered minor injuries.
Half an hour later, another bus travelling in the same direction in a convoy of three buses was machine-gunned and hit by several bullets in the rear. Two people suffering minor injuries.
“I was making a turn and I realised that I was being attacked when the passengers became agitated and my hand started to bleed,” one of the drivers, Enoque Matavel, told Lusa, indicating the bullet which had injured his thumb and was now lodged in the dashboard.
“I didn’t stop because I wanted to save my 37 passengers,” he added.
The two vehicles and passengers had spent the night in the village of Muxungué, which they left at 7:00 a.m.. They were attacked shortly after leaving the military escort section in Chibabava district, near the line that separates Sofala from Manica province.
The buses targeted yesterday had left Maputo and were heading for Quelimane and Nampula.
A source at Inchope health centre confirmed that five people were treated for gunshot and glass shard wounds, and afterwards resumed their journey.
The attack follows others by guerrillas of the dissident Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) led by Mariano Nhongo, which have killed 21 people since August on roads and villages in the provinces of Manica and Sofala.
The group threatened to resort to armed violence in pursuit of better social reintegration terms than those agreed with the Mozambican government by its party, but has also failed to take explicit responsibility for the attacks.
The area has seen other attacks, particularly in the section of road connecting the north of the country with National Road Number 6 (EN6) and through to Beira and Zimbabwe.
Source: Lusa
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