The source reports that the Defence and Security Forces shot dead the seven alleged terrorists during clashes in broad daylight in the forests of Quiterajo, more than 50 kilometres from the district headquarters of Macomia. In contrast, the alleged terrorists prepared to attack a military position.
“Our forces acted with courage and bravery and killed seven terrorists,” said the source from Macomia. He added that, in addition to the fatalities, reports mentioned injuries in the clashes in the centre of Cabo Delgado province: “There was a lot of blood in the woods of Quiterajo.”
The clashes began on Friday and continued until Sunday, causing some people to flee Mucojo out of fear. “People arrived from Mucojo out of fear, but no one attacked Mucojo,” the source said.
On Thursday, 26 June, the administrator of Macomia, Tomás Badae, told journalists that more than 22,000 people displaced by attacks by insurgent groups had returned to Mucojo and Chai, and authorities expected the population to return to Quiterajo.
Located along the EN380 national road, the district of Macomia is in the centre of Cabo Delgado, 200 kilometres from the provincial capital, Pemba.
The Mozambican Armed Defence Forces and their Rwandan counterparts have been fighting the insurgency in Cabo Delgado since 2017, with the help of the so-called Local Force, composed mainly of former guerrilla fighters from the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo), which led the war against the Portuguese colonial regime (1964-1974) and voluntarily took up arms again to fight the rebel groups.
Since October 2017, the gas-rich province of Cabo Delgado has been facing an armed rebellion with attacks claimed by movements associated with the extremist group Islamic State, which have displaced more than one million people.
Islamic extremist groups killed at least 349 people in the province in 2024 alone, an increase of 36% over the previous year, according to data recently released by the Africa Centre for Strategic Studies, an academic institution of the US Department of Defence that analyses conflicts in Africa.
Platform with Lusa
