Mozambique president confirms another terrorist attack in Cabo Delgado

MAPUTO, Mozambique

Mozambican President, Filipe Nyusi on Monday confirmed that a terrorist attack had occurred the previous day in Ancuabe district, in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.

Nyusi confirmed the fact, a day after reports of the attack were published in some of the Mozambican press, reporting that residents were abandoning their houses in the Ancuabe village of Nanduli in search of safer places.

The police denied the initial reports – but Nyusi effectively confirmed that the press (notably the independent newssheet “Carta de Moçambique”) had got the story right.

“Sometimes people think that terrorism is over, but that is not true, just yesterday (Sunday) they attacked a village in Ancuabe district”, stated the president, during a virtual meeting with the secretary-general of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Nguyen Phu Trong.

Nevertheless, according to the president, “the security situation in general is under control, despite the acts of terrorism that still occur. We need to strengthen our operational capacity, but on this aspect, we will speak again through our own channels with our friends in the government of Vietnam.”

Despite the attacks, in some Cabo Delgado districts people displaced from their homes by the jihadists are beginning to return.

Nyusi said that recently the terrorists have been attacking the population in search of food. “So far more than 2,000 people have been murdered by these criminals and the number of displaced people had reached 850,000”, he added.

Nyusi did not believe that the terrorists who struck in Ancuabe were opening a new front in the war, but were merely looting. Nonetheless, the attack sparked off panic and sent people fleeing to the provincial capital, Pemba.

Following up the paper’s initial story, Tuesday’s issue of “Carta de Moçambique” said that four people were murdered in the attack against Nanduli. They were three men and one woman, two of whom were burnt alive in their homes. The jihadists beheaded the other two. These victims were ill which was why they were unable to escape into the bush with the other villagers.

An unspecified number of villagers were kidnapped, and the raiders stole food, and burnt down houses and shops. - AIM