Twelve people have been killed in a suspected Islamist attack in northern Mozambique, with thousands of villagers fleeing the area into neighbouring Tanzania, police sources said Sunday.
Early on Friday, “there was an attack in Nangade district, where there are no security patrols. 12 people were killed by the attackers, mostly women and children,” a police source in Cabo Delgado province, who asked not to be named, told AFP.
According to a local journalist, the villagers were killed by machete or died when their houses were set on fire by the attackers.
This is the third such incident in the last month in Cabo Delgado, leaving 20 people dead in all. Authorities have responded with a crackdown, rounding up some 200 suspects.
Over the past year, hardline Islamists have been active in the region, stoking unrest just as the government in Maputo is pushing ahead with oil and gas development in the province.
-AFP
