Militant Islamists ‘beheaded more than 50’ in a gruesome attack in Mozambique.
WARNING: The article contains graphic details that some readers may find distressing.
- More than 50 people were slaughtered in a jihadist attack in Mozambique.
- The horrid event is believed to be closely related to ISIS.
- Since 2017, more than 2,000 people have been killed in similar attacks in the country.
A grim attack turned a football pitch into an “execution ground.” Reportedly, Islamist assaulters beheaded more than 50 people, chopped up the bodies of victims, and abducted women in northern Mozambique.
As Daily Mail reveals, the bodies of dismembered victims were found scattered across a forest clearing on Monday. Some of the casualties were teenage boys taking part in a male initiation ceremony.
BBC News reports that according to survivors, the gunmen chanted “Allahu Akbar,” fired shots, and torched homes down. The onslaught is believed to be linked to ISIS. It is the latest attack in a growing wave of jihadist violence in the African country.
Explaining the gruesome event, an officer in the Mueda district said:
“Police learned of the massacre committed by the insurgents through reports of people who found corpses in the woods. It was possible to count 20 bodies spread over an area of about 500 meters (yards). These were young people who were at an initiation rite ceremony accompanied by their advisers.”
An aid worker in Mueda said that after the massacre, body parts of the victims had been sent to their families for burial on Tuesday. She added:
“Funerals were held in an environment of great pain. The bodies were already decomposing and couldn’t be shown to those present.”
Several nearby villages were attacked by militants looting and burning down homes before retreating into the surrounding thicket.
Mozambique’s northeastern Cabo Delgado province has been struggling with jihadists’ assaults over the past several years. The assailants have been ravaging villages and towns as part of a campaign to establish an Islamist caliphate.
The recent carnage repeats the history of a grim event earlier this year. In April, more than 50 youths were shot dead and beheaded for refusing to join jihadists’ ranks. Over 2,000 people have been killed amid the unrest since 2017. Most of them were innocent civilians, the US-based Armed Conflict Location & Event Data group claims.
Although there is limited information about Mozambique’s jihadists, who call themselves Al-Shabab, it was revealed that in 2019, they pledged allegiance to ISIS.
