Mozambicans find bodies of three suspected rebel victims in Cabo Delgado

Residents of the village of Alaka in the Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado discovered three bodies in an advanced stage of decomposition, sources in the local community told Lusa this Thursday, admitting that they were victims of rebels active in the region.

The bodies were found in this area of ​​Chure district in the south of the province by a group of ten women who went on Tuesday to look for firewood almost ten kilometers from the village, in a place used for traditional community rituals.

“We were scared when we saw the bodies. All the bones were broken, the smell was very strong,” said a woman who was part of the group.

After the discovery, the women stopped cutting wood and returned to the village to report the matter to local and national authorities, who went to the site to bury the bodies.

“They have already been buried, but it’s sad. The priest is no longer the same as he was yesterday,” said a representative of the local authorities.

The population suspects that these are the bodies of residents of neighboring settlements killed by rebel groups.

“In my opinion, these are not people from our community, they could be killed by terrorists, since Curé became the epicenter,” the source complained.

Ciure, located nearly 150 kilometers from Pemba, the provincial capital, is an area where terrorists began intensifying attacks in February, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee their homes.

Cabo Delgado province in northern Mozambique has faced an armed insurgency since October 2017, with attacks claimed by groups linked to the Islamic State.

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.

After several months of relative calm in the affected areas, the province of Cabo Delgado has been recording new movements and attacks by rebel groups for several months.