Terrorists boast of murdering 70 people in Mozambique

MAPUTO, Mozambique

The jihadist groups who claim affiliation to the “Islamic State” (ISIS) terrorist network have boasted of murdering 70 people, in 27 attacks against what it described as “Christian towns” in Chiùre district, in the northern Mozambican province Cabo Delgado.

According to Thursday’s issue of the independent newsheet “Carta de Moçambique”, citing the Islamic State propaganda channels, the raiders destroyed 500 buildings, including houses, churches and public facilities.

According to the Chiure district administrator, Oliveira Amimo, the latest wave of terrorist attacks began on 3 February, when jihadists entered the region, coming from the neighbouring district of Mecufi.

The jihadists are thus claiming to have undertaken 27 separate attacks in 25 days. The figure of 500 buildings destroyed is only possible, if most of them were houses – which, in rural Mozambique, means simple huts. There are certainly nowhere near 500 churches in Chiure.

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“Carta de Mocambique” also writes that the residents of Macomia district have been terrified since Monday due to an alleged message from terrorists to the people of Mucojo administrative post, promising to attack at any moment. Because of the threat, some families are no longer sleeping in their homes or are spending sleepless nights in the bush.

The terrorists are believed to be hoping to find food supplies in Mucojo. “We don’t know when the attack will come, but everyone is going anyway, even though we’re counting on the presence of the soldiers. However, last year, they attacked Napulubo village, even though troops were there”, one source said.

“That’s why I didn’t stay in Macomia. They (the authorities) tell people to go to the town of Macomia, but since the terrorists can reach almost anywhere, I chose to travel to Pemba (the provincial capital) instead of staying in Macomia”, said another source.

According to government figures, the latest wave of attacks by Islamist terrorists in Cabo Delgado has displaced more than 60,000 people over the provincial boundary into the neighboring province of Nampula.

However, on Thursday Defence Minister Cristovao Chume downplayed the jihadist threat, and said there had been no resurgence in terrorist activity.

Cited by the independent television station STV, Chume said that what had really happened in Cabo Delgado was that small groups had left their bases and moved to the southern districts of the province to create panic among the population.

This was quite unlike previous terrorist offensives, in which district capitals such as the town of Palma had been seized. Chume guaranteed that this would not happen again.

Meanwhile, the Mozambican Relief Agency, the National Disaster Management Institute (INGD), has warned displaced people to be on their guard against possible infiltration by jihadists.

INGD chairperson Luisa Meque, speaking on Wednesday to a crowd of displaced people, who had fled over the provincial boundary to Erati district, in Nampula province, said “We must continue to be vigilant, to know who is on our side. Otherwise, we might be fleeing from Chiure to Erati in the company of those bandits”.

Meque stressed that the food aid distributed in the accommodation centres in Erati was intended exclusively for those who had fled from Cabo Delgado. She warned against residents of Erati passing themselves off as displaced people in order to obtain extra food.