Maputo A terrorist group killed three people in an attack last Thursday against a minibus near Roma village in the district of Mocimboa da Praia, in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado.
According to a report in Monday’s issue of the independent newssheet “Carta de Mocambique”, those murdered were the driver, his assistant, and one of the passengers. The other passengers fled, and the attackers then set the vehicle on fire.
The bus, owned by a Cabo Delgado Businessman, was travelling between the towns of Mueda and Mocimboa da Praia.
On the same day, a man on a motorbike narrowly escaped an ambush on the road between Mocimboa da Praia town and Anga village. The attackers were wearing military uniforms, and when their intended target saw them approaching, he abandoned his motorbike and fled into the bush. The insurgents then torched the motorbike.
Residents of Magaia village, in Muidumbe district, told “Carta de Mocambique” that, on 10 January, insurgents attacked the village, killed three people and burnt down several houses. Those killed included a member of the community police forum.
Most of the villagers escaped into the bush, while the terrorists stayed for several hours, and even had time to cook and eat before they abandoned Magaia.
But they returned to Magaia the following day, 11 January, to burn down more houses. “We didn’t eat anything that day, because many goods were burned inside the houses”, said one of the newsheet’s sources. “Our salvation was the mangoes. We picked mangoes and ate them”.
The villagers have taken to sleeping in the bush, and the paper’s source complained there had been no response from the defence and security forces.
Source: Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique.