Mozambique: Dozens dead after militant assault on Palma
According to a spokesperson from the country's defense department, dozens of people are dead following an attack on the town of Palma in northern Mozambique. Seven were killed trying to escape a siege on a hotel, said Omar Saranga. Hundreds of others, both locals and foreigners, were reportedly rescued. The area has been under attack by Islamist militants since Wednesday. Witnesses have described hiding out while waiting to be rescued by boat, on a beach strewn with headless bodies. Marine traffic websites showed a string of vessels around Palma, and the port of Pemba to the south, as people tried to escape by any means - cargo vessels, passenger ships, tugs, and recreational boats.
The rescue operation boat with about 1,400 people on board had arrived in the port town of Pemba, which is about 250km (155 miles) south of Palma, on Sunday afternoon. Aid agencies said several more small boats packed with displaced people were en route to Pemba and likely to arrive overnight or on Monday morning. The exact number of casualties in Palma, a town of about 75,000 people in Cabo Delgado province, is unclear. Many are still unaccounted for. The town and beaches are strewn with bodies "with heads and without," according to Col Lionel Dyke, whose private security firm, Dyck Advisory Group, is contracted by the Mozambique police in the area.
The armed group has taken control of Palma, but those claims are hard to verify amid a communications blackout. On Wednesday militant attack was launched, the offensive targeted shops, banks, and military barracks. Hundreds of people fled the fighting, running into forests, mangroves, or nearby villages. Palma is near a major gas project run by the French energy giant Total, and more than 100 workers and civilians took refuge in the town's Amarula Palma hotel. Some tried to escape the hotel in a convoy of vehicles on Friday, aiming for a nearby beach. At least 20 people were reportedly flown to safety in helicopters, but others were ambushed outside the hotel.
UK parliamentary under-secretary of state for Africa, James Duddridge, tweeted that the government was contacting Britons in the area to provide support, adding: "The UK wholeheartedly condemns the appalling violence in Cabo Delgado. It must stop. We stand with the people of Mozambique against terror."Northern Mozambique has been torn apart by an insurgency since 2017. Militants linked to the Islamic State (IS) group are behind the conflict in the predominantly Muslim region of Cabo Delgado. The fighting has left more than 2,500 people dead and 700,000 displaced.
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