The man died after being beheaded in the Pulo community in Metugue district by armed groups terrorizing Cabo Delgado province in northern Mozambique, local sources told Lusa.
The crime occurred on Saturday while the victim was in his agricultural field, 40 kilometers from Metuge district headquarters, community sources told Lusa.
“It happened at night, the terrorists interrogated the victim in his “machamba.” [campo agrícola] and then she was beheaded,” said the victim’s neighbor.
Noticing the presence of the rebels, some people decided to leave the area, taking refuge in the Metuge district headquarters.
“My family and I left Machamba, the situation is not very good,” said a local resident, a mother of seven children.
The new death was confirmed by Metuge District Administrator Salecio Manuel Paulo.
“In fact, there is a movement of terrorists in the area,” admitted the Metuge administrator, quoted by Jornal O País, without elaborating.
The rebel incursion in Metugue, less than 40 kilometers from the capital (Pemba), has caused some unrest in the area where the main reception center for people displaced by rebel attacks in Cabo Delgado is located.
Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi visited the Rapid Reaction Force (FIR) positions in the Metuge region on Friday, acknowledging that terrorists are now trying to use “other forms of destabilization.”
On the same day, a group of nearly 50 terrorists were spotted by the population crossing the National Road 1 (N1) between the villages of Nanliya and Ipriri in Metuge district, a community leader told Lusa, with local sources suspecting that the group headed to the neighboring province of Nampula, presumably to recruiting new members.
The movement of terrorist groups in recent days has also been observed in Kisanga County, near agricultural fields near Metuge County, causing panic and forcing the people of Nampipi to abandon their activities.
Local and community leaders acknowledge that the terrorist movement is linked to the crackdown carried out by the Defense and Security Forces in Macomia, Kisanga and Muidumbe counties.
Cabo Delgado province has faced an armed insurgency for six years, with some attacks claimed by the Islamic State extremist group, leading to a military response from July 2021 backed by Rwanda and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). liberation of areas near gas projects.
The conflict has already displaced one million people, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and nearly 4,000 people have died, according to the ACLED Conflict Recording Project.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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