The bodies of suspected terrorists in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province were found on the banks of a stream near the village, according to testimony from local residents gathered this Wednesday by Lusa.
The find was made in the village of Mitope, Mocimboa da Praia district, a week after the site was attacked by an armed group.
The bodies were discovered by a group of ten women who were looking for firewood, one of them said, noting that no one had left the village alone since the attack.
“We saw the bodies in a very worn condition and reported this to the local forces,” the authorities, who were unable to identify them, said the 53-year-old woman.
According to a member of the force, it is suspected that they were “terrorists shot down by Mozambican and Rwandan defense and security forces during an incursion into the village of Mitope.”
The attack was followed by a “chase of the enemy”, which drove the terrorists away, which, however, allowed the population to return to the village, located a few meters from the national road number 380 (EN 380), one of the few paved roads in the north of Cabo Delgado.
“I’m back, but fear prevails, and when night falls, it gets even worse despite tighter security,” said the 45-year-old widow and mother of five, who returned a week after the rebel invasion.
The province of Cabo Delgado has been facing an armed insurgency for five years now, with the Islamic State extremist group claiming responsibility for some attacks.
The insurgency has led to military retaliation since July 2021, with the support of Rwanda and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), liberating areas near gas projects, but new waves of attacks have emerged in the south of the region and in the neighboring province. from Nampula.
According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the conflict has already displaced one million people and killed about 4,000 people, according to the ACLED Conflict Registration Project.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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