At least 156 jihadists died in military operations in Mozambique

At least 156 jihadists were killed in several military operations last week in the troubled Cabo Delgado province in northern Mozambique, the African country’s army said.

“According to preliminary information on the ground, we managed to kill 156 terrorists”, Colonel Francisco Assane said Wednesday evening on Mozambique State Television (TVM).

In the operations, carried out between June 21 and 23, 39 people suspected of belonging to the jihadist group Al Shabab were also captured, which terrorizes the population of Cabo Delgado, where millionaire gas projects led by the multinational are also developing. French Total. .

“These were captured in action, in a battle in which we exchanged fire with the enemy,” said Assane, acting army commander in the Afungi area, adding that the terrorists launched a offensive against the military in the town of Monjane and the coastal town of Palma.

Palma was the target of the bloody attack by jihadists on March 24, which led to a siege of the city that lasted several days and left dozens dead.

More, some 70,000 people were forced to leave their homes, as reported by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) on June 11, adding to the nearly 700,000 people who had already been displaced by the conflict.

Al Shabab, unrelated to the Somali group of the same name, has attacked northern Mozambique since 2017, killing nearly 2,930, including more than 1,440 civilians, according to the latest figures from the Armed Conflict Events and Location Data Project ( ACLED).

Last week, the leaders of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), a regional bloc to which Mozambique belongs, agreed to the deployment of troops to fight the jihadist group in Cabo Delgado, without however specifying the number of soldiers. involved. .. they will mobilize in this mission.

EU INTERVENTION

The European Union on Wednesday approved the creation of a military training mission to help the Mozambican armed forces in the fight against the growing threat from jihadist terrorist groups. The deal is due to be ratified by EU foreign ministers at a meeting scheduled for July 12.

France, Spain, Italy and Luxembourg were ready to respond to Portugal’s request and to participate in this European mission, according to diplomatic sources cited by France Presse (AFP). The partners have not yet clarified which troops will make up the mission, but Portugal said in May it was ready to contribute half.

The country has already sent instructors to Mozambique after the attack on the coastal city of Palma on March 24 by armed jihadist groups active in the province of Cabo Delgado, on the border with Tanzania. It is an enclave where millionaire gas projects are also developing, led by the French multinational Total. The attack, which led to a siege of the city that lasted several days, left dozens of people dead, according to the El País newspaper article.

Attacks intensified last year, but until now Mozambique’s President Filipe Nyusi has been reluctant to any foreign aid and insisted on the country’s sovereignty, independent since 1975. Their armies, poorly trained and poorly equipped, have so far benefited from the assistance of private security companies. The Maputo government had hired South African security firm Dyck Advisory Group for a year to provide air support to Mozambican ground forces via light attack helicopters.

KEEP READING: