Africa-Press – Mozambique. At least five alleged terrorists were killed and a member of the Local Force (paramilitary) was injured in clashes in the village of Xaxaxa, Meluco district, in the Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado, official sources told Lusa on Friday.
According to the sources, the clashes, which are only now known, took place on Sunday on the banks of the Messalo river, on the border between Xaxaxa, Meluco and Homba, after the rebels fell into an ambush by the Local Force paramilitaries.
“Five rebels died and they managed to wound our colleague,” said a source from Mueda, acknowledging the possibility of more fatalities on the side of the insurgents, given the nature of the “mega-operation” on the ground, which culminated in the retreat of the rebels on the banks of the Messalo river.
“That was a sweep. The terrorists left in a stampede, and we’re still following them,” he said.
The town of Xaxaxa is around 60 kilometres from the district headquarters of Meluco, a district severely affected by rebel incursions since 2017.
A survey by the ACLED organisation, reported tis Friday by Lusa, estimates that the Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado recorded 11 violent events between October 27 and November 9, essentially involving insurgents linked to the extremist Islamic State movement, causing ten civilian deaths.
According to the latest report by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) organisation, of the 2,251 violent events recorded since October 2017, when the armed insurgency began in Cabo Delgado, 2,077 involved details associated with Islamic State Mozambique (ISM).
In just over eight years, these attacks have caused 6,316 deaths, says the new report, including the ten victims reported in the two weeks between October and November.
Also in its analysis of this period, ACLED points out that “there has been significant activity in the districts south of Macomia, particularly in Quissanga, where the village of Cagembe has clearly become a centre of operations for the group”.
On Thursday, Mozambique’s prime minister, Benvinda Levi, acknowledged the “persistence of terrorist actions” as one of the country’s main challenges, but pointed to “stabilisation” on the ground, which has allowed people to “gradually return” to their areas of origin.
“One of the main challenges facing our country at the moment is the persistence of terrorist actions in some districts of Cabo Delgado, where they have been resorting, among other “modus operandi”, to sporadic attacks and dispersal into small groups,” he recognised, speaking in parliament to brief MPs.
“In addition to carrying out heinous acts, the terrorists have recently also resorted to systematic kidnappings and abductions along public roads, in mining areas and where other types of economic activities take place, to subsequently demand money in exchange for the release of the victims taken hostage,” he recognised.
To deal with the situation, “the Mozambican state has been implementing a series of security and socio-economic measures that are working”, namely “stabilising areas previously considered critical, including the establishment of belts that ensure security for the population, production areas and public and private economic and social infrastructures”.
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