Mozambique’s chief of police, Bernardino Rafael, said today that the country’s defence and security forces — made up of the police and the military — killed 108 insurgents over the last three days in a series of attacks on a base known as Siria in Cabo Delgado.
However, he was almost immediately contradicted by his boss, interior minister Amade Miquidade, who told reporters at parliament on Thursday that the defence and security forces had killed 22 over the last three days, according to a report in O País.
Speaking at an annual meeting of the police force in Pemba, Rafael said 19 were killed in a single attack on Thursday morning, when government forces “hit [the insurgents] hard” while they were cooking. Those killed had tried to return fire on the government forces, he said.
Over the last three days, a further 89 “terrorists” have been killed, he said. State broadcaster Radio Moçambique reported that these deaths were also in attacks on the Siria base.
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“We destroyed six encampments of the terrorists. We destroyed 15 vehicles which the terrorists used to transport themselves in their incursions against communities. We destroyed 20 motorcycles, we destroyed three tonnes of various food products that they looted from communities," Rafael said.
Also on Thursday, the Islamic State terror group claimed it had killed a number of members of the Mozambican military earlier in the week.
