Construction company Fenix has confirmed that at least eight people were killed when one of its vehicles was ambushed by supposed insurgents outside Mocímboa da Praia on 27 June, the day of the most recent major attack on the town.
The vehicle was carrying 14 people in total, Fenix said in a statement published on Sunday, 5 July. Three of the occupants fled and survived, while another three remain missing.
The vehicle was stopped 4km north of Mocímboa da Praia town by a group of five men, dressed in uniforms similar to those used by Mozambique’s defence and security forces. When the vehicle stopped, the attackers immediately shot the driver dead.
The three survivors immediately fled into the surrounding bush — meaning there is no eyewitness testimony to how the rest of the incident played out. One of the survivors walked to the village of Quelimane, where they spent the night and returned to Palma on the back of a motorcycle the following day, Sunday 28 July. The other two survivors remained hidden in the bush near to the ambush, but made it back to Palma on Wednesday 1 July and Thursday 2 July respectively.
Also on Thursday, 2 July, a private security company contracted by Fenix went to the area to recover the bodies of the dead, and any survivors. They found eight bodies, which were buried in Palma on Friday, 3 July, on the instructions of the local authorities, Fenix said.
A source involved in the Total-led LNG project on the Afungi peninsula, told Zitamar that Fenix was not involved with work on the LNG project.
This article was produced by Zitamar and Mediafax under the Cabo Ligado project, in collaboration with ACLED and with support from Crisis Group. The contents of the article are the sole responsibility of Zitamar News.
