Maputo, 8 Apr (AIM) – Islamist terrorists have stolen two ambulances and at least one other state-owned vehicle in their latest attack against the town of Quissanga, in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado, according to a report in Monday’s issue of the independent daily “O Pais”.
“The vehicles were taken away on boats, and we don’t know where they took them, but we heard that the terrorists are using the vehicles in Macomia district”, said one resident of Quissanga, who was obliged to live with the jihadists for 17 days.
In addition to stealing the vehicles, the terrorists looted medicines, and destroyed various houses and other buildings.
“They entered Quissanga at around 08.00 on 2 March, and they only left on 17 March”, aid one eye-witness, speaking on condition of anonymity. “There were about 500 men, wearing military and police uniforms. They were carrying all kinds of weapons, but they did not shoot, and did not kill anybody. They stole the goods of people who abandoned their houses out of fear”.
“They burnt down the police station, and the residence of the district administrator, and all the tents where some state institutions were operating were also set on fire”, he added.
On the same day that Quissanga was attacked, some of the jihadists crossed a narrow arm of the Mozambique Channel to Quirimba island, where they stole goods from the local residents and murdered an unspecified number of members of the Mozambican defence and security forces.
“I received phone calls from relatives in Quissanga during the night, warning me that the terrorists were on the way to Quirimba”, said one woman who managed to escape to the provincial capital, Pemba. “Before dawn we awoke to the sound of gunfire. As soon as they arrived, they chased, surrounded and slaughtered several soldiers, without mercy. Days later, other soldiers came to collect the bodies of their colleagues”.
In both Quissanga and Quirimba the jihadists stole considerable amounts of food from the local shops, leaving the population to go hungry.
“They didn’t kill civilians, but they took almost all the food there was in Quirimba. We couldn’t cope with the hunger, and so we decided to leave the island and go to the homes of our relatives in Pemba”, said one of the islanders displaced by the terrorist raid.
(AIM)
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