Terrorists attacked and burned infrastructure in Cabo Delgado

An armed group that has been terrorizing Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province has once again attacked and destroyed infrastructure in the Chiure region, an official source told Lusa.

The attack began around 17:00 (15:00 Lisbon time) on Monday and continued until almost midnight. The target was the headquarters of the Mazeze administrative post in the interior of the Chiure district, where insurgents set fire to the hospital, the secretariat of the administrative post and the residence of the head of the administrative post, the Chiure district administrator said.

“The infrastructure is almost destroyed,” Oliveira Amimo said.

In addition to burning public infrastructure, the source continued, the rebels destroyed a chapel belonging to the Catholic Church.

“Part of the private infrastructure – the chapel of the priests – was also destroyed, and at the moment the enemy remains in the forests,” he added.

Rebel incursions in Kure began in early February in the communities of Nakoha B and Nakussa, the latter five kilometers from the Mazeze administrative post, where groups also destroyed a Catholic church and residents’ homes.

“After spending a few hours in Somas village in Mekufi, they settled in Nakohe B where they set fire to Catholic chapels and burned the chapels. They also destroyed several popular residential buildings. After Nakoha B, they moved to the village of Nakussa, five kilometers from Mazeze,” the source said.

“Unfortunately, our infrastructure has been destroyed and we are not working,” the administrator lamented, adding that authorities were assessing damage in the affected areas.

“We work at the village level, with village leaders, with regulars. At the moment we cannot provide figures, we are working at the base to be able to estimate,” concluded Oliveira Amimo, who asks the local population for “peace.”

The province of Cabo Delgado has suffered six years of attacks blamed on the Islamic State extremist group, leading to a military response since July 2021, supported by Rwanda and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), liberating areas and gas projects.

After a period of relative stability, new attacks and movements have been recorded in Cabo Delgado in recent weeks, although local authorities suspect the movement is linked to harassment by defense and security forces in the districts of Macomia, Quisanga and Muidumbe. among the most affected.

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.