The claim, made through Islamic State (IS) propaganda channels, is documented in a video, in which the rebels, allegedly belonging to the Ahlu-Sunnah wal Jama`a (ASWJ) group, appear to fire bursts of machine-gun fire and enter the police station, saying they took material, after burning a vehicle and “freeing Muslim prisoners”, with no victims or injuries being reported.
The governor of Cabo Delgado, Valige Tauabo, confirmed to Lusa on Friday that the rebels had attacked the Chiúre district, forcing the population to move, but the security forces are restoring order. “In Chiúre, there were some incursions. The forces on the ground were on standby, but there was still [the attack],” said Valige Tauabo.
“We need to restore order, and the population in some villages has had to leave for safe areas. But there is protection from the government and the Defence and Security Forces,” said the governor of Cabo Delgado province.
People in two towns in the district of Chiúre, in Cabo Delgado, northern Mozambique, told Lusa on Thursday of new attacks by alleged rebel groups, prompting the population to flee. “It’s bad, the terrorists are attacking,” a source told Lusa from the main town of Chiúre, after fleeing on foot following the alleged attacks in the communities of Chiúre Velho and Mazeze.
The Chiúre district administrator, Oliveira Amimo, said that groups of rebels attacked two localities on Thursday morning, but that “they were repelled” by the defence forces, saying that the district headquarters had not been occupied.
“The Mozambique Defence Forces have repelled the terrorists. They are no longer in the district,” said the Chiúre district administrator, adding that during the attacks, the rebel groups burned homes and the local police command, but did not occupy the Chiúre district headquarters.
Practically all [the villages] were affected. We’re talking about hundreds of families,” said the administrator. Located around 140 kilometres from Pemba, the provincial capital, Chiúre is one of the districts targeted by the rebels.
Cabo Delgado province, in the north of the country, which is rich in gas, has been facing an armed rebellion since 2017, which has caused thousands of deaths and a humanitarian crisis, with more than a million people displaced.
At least 349 people died in attacks by Islamic extremist groups in northern Mozambique in 2024, an increase of 36% on the previous year, according to a study released in February by the Africa Centre for Strategic Studies (ACSS).
According to the US Department of Defence’s academic institution, which studies issues related to security in Africa, this “recovery in levels of violence” in Mozambique “reflects the strategy” of the ASWJ group – an IS affiliate operating in Cabo Delgado province – of “widening the conflict, moving inland and into more rural areas”.
Platform with Lusa
