Armed group decapitates over 50 in Mozambique: Reports

JOHANNESBURG

An armed militant group has reportedly decapitated more than 50 people in the northern Cabo Delgado province of Mozambique, according to local media reports.

A report published by an online news site, Club of Mozambique, quoted various sources saying the militants had attacked several villages in the province between Friday and Sunday.

The Pinnacle News portal reported that the militants had turned a football field in the Muatide village into an execution ground, where people fleeing from one village were gathered on the field and 50 people were massacred.

The armed militant group, believed to be affiliated to the Daesh/ISIS terrorist organization, has wreaked havoc in northern Mozambique since late 2017, killing hundreds, displacing communities, and capturing towns.

The group is locally known as al-Shabaab, but with no established links to the armed militant group in Somalia, it wants to establish an Islamic caliphate in northern Mozambique where it has exploited people’s desperation of poverty and unemployment to recruit in large numbers.

Members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), a regional block of 15 countries, in August expressed solidarity and commitment to support Mozambique in fighting ongoing terrorism attacks it is facing from the militant group.

Mozambique has been seeking international help to quash the militant threat.

The SADC condemned all acts of terrorism and armed attacks in the region during a virtual 40th ordinary summit of heads of state and government.