In a recent riot-stricken northeastern violence, militants led more than 50 men and teens to attend a men’s admission ceremony in Mozambique, according to local media.

The dismemberment corpse was found on Monday and was scattered in the deforested areas of the Muidumbe district.

Islamic extremists operating in the area attacked several nearby villages over the weekend, plundered and burned homes, and then retreated to the surrounding bushes.

“Police learned of the massacre by armed groups through reports of those who found dead bodies in the woods,” said an officer in the neighboring Mueda district who asked not to name him.

“It was possible to count 20 bodies spread over an area of about 500 meters,” he added.

“These were the young people at the entrance ceremony with their advisers.”

Evacuated Mozambicans depicted in 2018 after an attack by a jihadist force known as al-Shabaab. This group has no known connection with Somali al-Shabaab.

A Mueda aid worker, also unnamed, confirmed that the slaughter had taken place and said that some of the boys came from the area.

She said some of her body was sent to her family for burial on Tuesday.

“The funeral was held in a very painful environment,” the workers said.

“The body was already corrupt and could not be shown to the people who existed.”

Mozambique officials have not yet commented on the death, and state police did not answer the call from AFP.

Over the past three years, jihadists have caused havoc in the state of Cabo del Gado in northeastern Mozambique, devastating villages and towns as part of a campaign to establish a caliphate for Muslims.

Extremists have intensified their attacks in recent months, occupying their territory violently, and terrorizing their citizens in the process.

After the 2018 jihadist attack, the Mozambique army speaks with locals.

In April, jihadists shot dead more than 50 young people and bowed for refusing to join their class.

Since 2017, the turmoil has killed more than 2,000 people, more than half of them civilians, according to the US-based Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Group.

More than 400,000 people were evacuated due to the conflict and sought evacuation from nearby towns and cities.

Doctors Without Borders said Tuesday that about 10,000 people had fled to the state capital, Pemba, by boat in the past week alone, expressing concern over access to clean water and sanitation.

They do not have a known link to a group of that name operating in Somalia, but little is known about the Mozambican jihadists who call themselves al-Shabaab.

Last year, militants pledged allegiance to so-called Islamic State groups.

Source: DW

BDST: 1355 HRS, NOV 10, 2020
AP