"New terrorist attack in Mocímboa was expected" - Mozambique Minister

MAPUTO, Mozambique

Mozambique’s Minister of Defence said yesterday that the new attack by rebels in Mocímboa da Praia was “natural and expected”, and that the insurgents are trying to show that they remain active after the shooting of the group’s leader.

“This action is not a surprise,” Cristóvão Chume told journalists on the sidelines of the launch of the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the liberation struggle, a ceremony which took place on Monday.

“In fact, we had already warned that (…) we should remain vigilant, because with this action that culminated in the liquidation of part of their leadership, it is natural that they want to show to the national and international community that they remain active.”

At issue is a new attack claimed by the terrorist organisation Islamic State, through its propaganda channels, an incursion that left at least 10 dead in Naquitenge, a village in the interior of Mocímboa da Praia district.

According to the defence minister, the rebel incursion after the elimination of the leader of terrorism in the country, Mozambican Bonomade Machude Omar, is a sign that government forces must remain alert.

“For us, it is a sign that all the capacity that was generated must continue on our side. We cannot let our guard down in the sense that we annihilated the head of the snake,” stressed Chume, who suggests a “coordinated return” with the authorities for populations who want to return to their areas of origin.

Local sources heard on Sunday by Lusa say that the attack took place in Naquitenge around 3:00 p.m. on Thursday.

“When they arrived there, they called a meeting. People in the village didn’t know they were terrorists. After that, they started to separate Christians from Muslims, based on names. Then they opened fire on the Christians,” a source who lost his nephew during the attack told Lusa.

“They practically sprayed people with gunshot. Some people were injured and fled into the woods. It’s one of the cruellest attacks we’ve ever heard of,” another source, who has a family member who managed to escape the attack, said.

This incursion takes place less than a month after the announcement, on August 25, by the chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Mozambique, Joaquim Rivas Mangrasse, of the elimination of the leader of terrorism in the country, the Mozambican Bonomade Machude Omar, together with other elements of the terrorist group’s leadership.

Bonomade Machude Omar, considered the leader of the radical group Islamic State in Mozambique, was targeted by the second phase of the so-called “Golpe Duro II” operation by the Mozambican army.

The extremist leader was described by several experts as “a symbiosis between brutality and vigilantism”, appearing on the United States’ list of “global terrorists” and the target of European Union sanctions.

The province of Cabo Delgado has been facing armed insurgency for almost six years, with some attacks claimed by the extremist group Islamic State.

On the ground in Cabo Delgado, the Armed Defence Forces of Mozambique have been fighting terrorism – in attacks that have been taking place since October 2017 and which are hampering the progress of natural gas production projects in the region – since July 2021, with support from Rwanda and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

The conflict in northern Mozambique has already displaced a million people, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and caused around 4,000 deaths, according to the ACLED conflict registration project, while the Mozambican President this week admitted to “more than 2,000” fatalities.