Residents of Mahipa village in Chiure district in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province have captured and handed over to authorities five suspected members of terrorist groups operating in the region, local sources told Lusa on Tuesday.
According to the same sources, the action took place on Saturday, April 20, when people neutralized five strangers in the village, who were immediately captured and handed over to the authorities on suspicion of belonging to terrorist groups operating for more than six years in the province of Cabo Delgado.
“In the Mahipa community, people were worried about five people. They were strangers and the community caught them and handed them over to the local authorities,” a local source said.
According to them, the situation caused unrest among residents, some of whom chose to sleep outside their homes.
“We panicked, some residents were sleeping outside their houses because we don’t know if they are terrorists,” a local source said.
Some people fled their homes amid rumors of a terrorist group’s presence in the Cuure forests in the south of the province and gathered for three days at a checkpoint on the Lurio River, the border between Cabo Delgado and Nampula provinces. along National Road 1, trying to reach the neighboring district of Erati (Namapa), but were stopped by defense and security forces, presumably to avoid causing disturbances.
“My mother returned to Alaka today because I sent her money so she could return. She spent three days at the Lurio River checkpoint with other people, they were afraid of rumors about the possible presence of terrorists in the Cure Velho area,” another source said from Pemba, the provincial capital.
Since October 2017, Cabo Delgado has faced an armed insurgency, with attacks blamed on groups linked to the Islamic State.
After months of relative normality, Cabo Delgado province has seen new movements and attacks by rebel groups in recent months, restricting traffic at some points on the few paved roads that provide access to several areas.
The insurgency has led to a military response since July 2021, supported by Rwanda with more than 2,000 troops and the Southern African Development Community liberating areas near natural gas projects.