Islamist insurgents carried out another attack yesterday in Chiúre district, in the southern part of Cabo Delgado province, following attacks on government and Catholic church buildings in the town of Mazeze and at least one other village over the last week.
A resident of the town of Chiúre, headquarters of the district of the same name, confirmed to Zitamar today that the village of Nguira, in the Mazeze administrative post within the district, was attacked on Thursday night.
Last Friday, 9 February, the insurgents made their first attacks on a village in Mazeze administrative post, having entered from Mecufi district, to the south of the provincial capital of Pemba. Two sources told Zitamar News that the village of Nacoja was attacked, with one source saying a church was burned. Islamic State later claimed responsibility for the attack, saying its fighters had “burned four churches and a Christian school” in the village, which lies on the border with Nampula province to the south.
This was followed on Monday with an attack on the town of Mazeze itself, burning and vandalising a church, schools, a health centre and the home of Catholic priests. No one was killed in the attack on the town, which lies 70km to the east of the town of Chiúre.
The administrator of Chiúre district, Oliveira Amimo, confirmed the damage to journalists, and said the population of Mazeze had fled to the neighbouring administrative posts of Chiúre-Velho and Mecufi. Amimo said many of the displaced people would now likely face hunger.
Website Carta de Moçambique cited the international Catholic organisation Aid to the Church in Need, which said that missionaries and priests from Chiúre took refuge in the city of Pemba, which has not yet been the target of terrorist attacks. The missionaries belong to the Poor of Jesus Christ fraternity, and the mission was set up in late 2020 after the first mission had been established further north in Nangade.
A military contingent stationed in Mazeze is understood to have fled to the village of Chiure-Velho, upon learning of the insurgents’ presence in Mazeze — meaning the town was undefended when the attack happened.
A recording of a Brazilian priest speaking from Pemba, heard by Zitamar, describes how a group of heavily armed insurgents invaded Mazeze town at 6pm on Monday.
He said there was “an hour of shooting, because there was no police or military”; the insurgents shot up the local government building, the health centre and two mission houses; “they destroyed the church, burned houses, it's terror, bullets... all with a lot of violence."
The insurgents are believed to have entered Chiúre from the district of Mecufi, directly to the south of Pemba. Mazeze is close to the district boundary, and a little over 100km from Pemba by road, though little over 50km as the crow flies. The river Lurio, marking the border with Nampula district, lies around 12km to the south.
This article was produced by Zitamar News under the Cabo Ligado project, in collaboration with Mediafax and ACLED. The contents of the article are the sole responsibility of Zitamar News.
