Islamic State-backed insurgents killed at least two people on Sunday in the village of Pundanhar in the Palma district of Cabo Delgado province, around 50km from the site of the $20bn-plus liquefied natural gas project led by French energy firm TotalEnergies.
Insurgents attacked on Sunday night at around 11 pm, killing two men as they burned several homes and buildings and looted goods, including bicycles, local sources told Zitamar News.
“Our colleague here at work lost his grandfather, who was shot dead and his house was burned down,” a public official in the district capital town of Palma said. “We are all tired and demoralised, because from here to Pundanhar it is 54km. It is close.”
Insurgents appeared to have entered Pundanhar undetected, despite it being a base of the Rwanda Defence Force, the Local Force militia and the police’s Rapid Intervention Unit (UIR).
"We don’t understand. There are the Rwandans, the UIR force and the Local Force - they are all there at the headquarters. So we are asking ourselves, ‘how did they get in to attack houses, shops, steal and then leave?’” one local said.
The Mozambican mining company Aggregates Mozambique Limitada briefly suspended operations for one day at its quarry in the village of Quionga in Palma following the attack, the company told Zitamar.
This is the first recorded attack in Palma district since September last year, when insurgents beheaded a man just 10km from the district capital on the road to Pundanhar.
Seven children kidnapped by insurgents in Mocímboa da Praia district
The Pundanhar attack follows the kidnapping of at least seven children on 23 January in the village of Mumo in Mocímboa da Praia district. Mumo is near a junction on the N380 road, the main road used to access Cabo Delgado’s northern districts, where the village of Awasse is located.
Three of the children were later released, a local source reported.