Two people were shot dead in Matola on Monday afternoon in a fresh wave of violent crime on the outskirts of the Mozambican capital, Maputo, local authorities confirmed.
Carmínia Leite, the spokesperson for the Police of the Republic of Mozambique (PRM) in Maputo province, verified the double homicide but noted that the identities of the victims remain unknown. She assured the public that a thorough criminal investigation is already underway to track down the perpetrators.
The deadly ambush unfolded when unidentified individuals intercepted a vehicle near the lower crossing of the Mulahuze River along the bypass road linking Matola and Maputo, specifically on the Khongolote-Molumbela stretch. The assailants opened fire directly on the driver and their passenger.
Images circulating across social media platforms depict the front of the vehicle entirely riddled with bullet holes, reflecting a highly targeted execution style that has become increasingly recurrent in the Matola municipality over the past year.
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This latest tragedy adds to a grim tally of violent shootings in the region. On April 6, a similar double homicide claimed the life of an active agent from the National Criminal Investigation Service (Sernic) during what was described as an ongoing operation.
According to police data, that incident marked the eighth publicly known violent assault since June 2025 specifically targeting Mozambican law enforcement personnel in the capital’s periphery.
Prior to that, on January 3, another criminal investigation officer was fatally shot inside his residence in Matola. The violence has not spared top brass either; on October 23, the district commander of the PRM for Marracuene was ambushed and shot inside her car along the Circular Road in Matola.
Other notable incidents include an October 1 shootout where a Sernic agent was wounded and two civilians died from stray bullets, a September 9 targeted killing of a police sergeant-major in his car, and a bloody July 2 ambush where two officers were executed with 54 gunshots.
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The unprecedented wave of violence began on June 11, 2025, when a member of the Rapid Intervention Unit (UIR) was gunned down with approximately 50 bullets in the Nkobe neighborhood by three unidentified men. The relentless targeting of security forces prompted Mozambique’s Minister of Justice, Constitutional and Religious Affairs, Mateus Saize, to publicly express deep government concern.
Saize has formally petitioned the Attorney General’s Office and Sernic to fast-track forensic investigations, warning that the state is paying close attention and will hold the syndicates behind these executions fully accountable.
