[Dhaka Tribune] About 52 villagers in Mozambique's troubled northernmost province were killed by Islamist snuffies on April 7 after they refused to be recruited to their ranks, police said on Tuesday.
"The young men were about to be recruited but they resisted, which provoked the ire of the bandidos that killed the 52 indiscriminately," police front man Orlando Modumane said.
The killings took place in the village of Xitaxi in Muidumbe district in the province of Cabo Delgado, home to multi-billion-dollar gas projects led by oil majors such as Total.
Last Wednesday, national police commander Bernardino Rafael said no parts of the troubled province were under the control of bad boys. His comments came after an increase in the frequency of attacks in the province.
Security analysts say that in some cases snuffies have occupied parts of towns, villages or government buildings and hoisted a black-and-white flag.
Locals told French news agency AFP that the militants tore local schools, hospitals, and a bank upside down, as well as setting fire to bridge-building equipment.
In the two years since the insurgency began in Mozambique's isolated northern regions, more than 200,000 people have had to flee their homes and more than 900 people have been killed, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED). The extremists have mostly targeted remote villages, though they have stepped up their attacks in recent months, including briefly occupying the district headquarters of Mocimboa da Praia in March and burning government buildings, including an army barracks.
INSURGENTS SEEK 'CALIPHATE'
The gunmen, who initially always hid behind masks, have begun to remove their face coverings during attacks and have aligned themselves more clearly with Islamist fundamentalists. At least twice they have been spotted flying the black and white "Islamic State" flag after committing acts of terror and they have publicly declared their intention to turn Mozambique into a "caliphate."
The insurgency does not appear to have a name universally agreed upon by all of its offshoots, though some attacks last year were claimed by a group calling itself "Islamic State Central Africa Province." Locals also refer to it as al-Shabaab, though there is no evidence of a link between the fighting in Mozambique and the terrorist group based in Somalia.
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