Armed robbers kills four policemen in Mozambique

MAPUTO, Mozambique 

A cash-in-transit vehicle carrying the salaries of employees of the Niassa Special Reserve (REN) wildlife sanctuary was attacked by unknown individuals in the district of Mecula, Niassa province last Thursday.

Four Police of the Republic of Mozambique (PRM) agents escorting the money were killed in the incident.

According to Carta sources, the attack caused panic in the local population, some of whom fled their homes suspecting terrorist activity.

Mecula is located in the extreme northeast of Niassa province, neighbouring the district of Mueda, the scene of terrorist attacks.

Members of the Defence and Security Forces (FDS) were deployed to the site, with the aim of restoring law and public order in the district, which also suffers from the effects of poaching in REN.

So far, the identity and origins of the perpetrators of the robbery remain unknown, but some people suspect that they may be members of terrorist groups, probably hiding in Niassa after fleeing persecution by Mozambican and Rwandan forces in Cabo Delgado.

The Southern African Development Community Mission in Mozambique warned last October about the possibility of terrorist attacks spreading to neighbouring Niassa and Nampula provinces. 

The same alert had already been issued by the Institute for Social and Economic Studies (IESE), a civil society organization which conducts research into the insurgency in Mozambique.