from ARMANDO DOMINGOS in Maputo, Mozambique
MAPUTO, (CAJ News) – ISLAMIST insurgents have reportedly beheaded five civilians amid killing, kidnapping and looting sprees in northern Mozambique.
Eight people have been killed, according to official figures but sources claim over 40 have been murdered in the past week in Cabo Delgado province, the epicentre of the crisis.
The victims who were beheaded were working in their fields when the assailants, reportedly from a terror group known as Ansar al-Sunna, pounced in the outskirts of Novo town.
It is believed the attackers are also responsible for the deaths of two men whose bodies have been found near Litamanda in the Macomia district.
The Islamists have been on a reign of terror in recent days after a period of lull in tensions.
Last week, insurgents killed a worker for state electrical utility, Electricidade de Mocambique (EDM) while he was working on a power line in Awasse, in the Mocimboa da Praia district.
Attackers also burnt the EDM vehicle and forced other employees to flee, abandoning their work.
The Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) documented the killings.
In total, more than 2 500 people have been killed since 2017 as the terrorists force the establishment of an Islamic state in the oil-rich northern Mozambique.
In Quissanga, despite the apparently improved security situation in, insurgents reportedly killed two people after insurgent gathered civilians and accused them of looting the nearby former terrorist base.
Several others were beaten.
In Bilibiza, insurgents held a similar meeting to accuse locals of stealing from a nearby abandoned base. They forcibly took money and mobile phones and abducted a number of children.
– CAJ News