According to a paramilitary official, the attack on the headquarters of the town of Mapate, around 60 kilometres from Muidumbe, took place on Monday during the day, when the rebels invaded the village and fired on civilians, took hostages and later beheaded two elderly people.
“They entered yesterday, killed two people, they were beheaded in a barbaric way in the village after being neutralised when they tried to flee,” said a paramilitary from Muidumbe. In addition to the two fatal victims, several houses were burnt down in the village in the attack, the source added.
As a result of the attack, the residents of Mapate, as well as the nearby villages of Mandela and Mandava, have left these places for the headquarters of Muidumbe, while the Defence Forces are on the ground trying to restore order in the lower part of the district, the paramilitary said.
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 since then.
At least 29 people died and another 208,000 were affected in July by attacks by extremist groups in the districts of that Mozambican province, according to a United Nations (UN) agency.
The UN agency also said that conflicts between the National Support Groups and the Mozambican Defence and Security Forces (FDS), including local forces, had intensified in Chiúre, on the coast of Macomia and in Muidumbe.
In 2024 alone, at least 349 people died in attacks by Islamic extremist groups in northern Mozambique, an increase of 36% on the previous year, according to a study released by the Africa Centre for Strategic Studies (ACSS), an academic institution of the US government’s Department of Defence.
Platform with Lusa
