Africa-Press – Mozambique. Joint military forces in Cabo Delgado, northern Mozambique, have shot and killed 10 insurgents during clashes in the province, the defence minister announced yesterday.
“The [joint] forces attacked a base, where they shot and killed 10 terrorists. Clean-up operations are currently taking place,” said Cristóvão Chume, on the sidelines of a meeting in Maputo with Botswana’s Minister of Defence, Justice and Security, Thomas Kagiso.
The 10 insurgents were shot down on Sunday in Macomia, in an operation involving the Mozambican Defence Armed Forces and the Military Mission of the Southern African Development Community in Mozambique (SAMIM), the Mozambican defence minister said.
Without specifying the number, Cristóvão Chume said that women “who worked in support” of Ibn Omar, one of the insurgents’ leaders, were liberated from the base that was invaded.
The Mozambican defence minister also said that there are “clear signs of the presence of terrorists” in Niassa province, which borders Cabo Delgado in the north of the country. Groups there are being pursued, he said.
“The situation in Niassa is worrying,” he stressed, although “positive signs are expected in the coming days” as a result of military action in the province.
Cabo Delgado province is rich in natural gas, but has been terrorized for four years by armed rebels, with some attacks claimed by the Islamic State extremist group.
The conflict has already cost more than 3,100 lives, according to the ACLED conflict registration project, and displaced more than 817,000 civilians, according to the Mozambican authorities.
Since July, an offensive by government troops, with the support of Rwanda, later joined by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), has recovered several areas, including the town of Mocímboa da Praia, occupied by the insurgents since August, 2020.
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