Reports from the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado say unidentified assailants, believed to be Islamic fundamentalists, attacked two villages in Nangade district, killing at least four people.
The authorities, including the district administrator and the police, are reluctant to confirm or deny the incident, which occurred on Saturday. According to a report in Tuesday’s edition of the independent newspaper Mediafax, the insurgents attacked Machava village in broad daylight, after midday.
The paper says the attackers killed four people including a local administrator for Nangade district. The other victims were a father and his two sons. Nangade district administrator, Dinis Mitandi, told Mediafax that he could give any details of the attack because he had been on holiday for the past four days.
He suggested that the media contact the police, but the Cabo Delgado district police command has stopped talking to journalists about the attacks. National police spokesperson Inacio Dina even denied that a previous attack on a Nangade village, Chicuaia Velha, on the 23 November, took place – although witnesses spoke of 12 deaths and 40 houses burnt down.
In another attack on Saturday villagers from Fifth Congress village in Cabo Delgado fought off assailants, injuring two of them with one later succumbing to his injuries.
