Islamist group butcher 52 villagers in Mozambique

Written by Angella Semu

At least 52 villagers have been beheaded by Islamist group terrorising northern Mozambique after they refused to be recruited to their ranks.

Police spokesperson, Orlando Mudumane confirmed this with the state-owned broadcasting station on Tuesday night.

According to Mudumane, the victims were massacred by either shot dead or beheaded after they expressed some resistance to the ranks of the guerrillas in the village of Xitaxi in of Muidumbe district.

A report by The Guardian revealed that the Islamist insurgents have in recent weeks raid attacks in the gas-rich region as part of a campaign to establish an Islamist caliphate, seizing government buildings, blocking roads and briefly hoisting their black-and-white jihadist flag over towns and villages across Cabo Delgado province

The group is locally known as Al-Shabaab and it has been staging attacks in the province in recent years. It has also executed more than 900 people and forced several others from their homes.

Meanwhile, police have launched manhunt to bring the Islamist insurgents to justice

Maneno Chimulala

I am a journalist, educator, and activist with passion for telling stories about social justice, sports and political issues. I graduated from Mzuzu University. I started my career at the Maravi Post online publication in 2012 as an intern while in college. Upon graduating from Mzuzu University I was offered a job as Sports Reporter because of my background as a goalkeeper and rose to the position of sub editor. I also had a short stint with Nyasatimes, Malawi Punch and Malawi Digest. Over the past seven years, I have worked intimately with rural organizations and communities in Malawi on human rights, girl child education and grassroots development projects. With an academic background in education, I also volunteer as male champion for girls’ education under Girls Empowerment Networks (GENET) in Malawi’s South West Education Division (SWED).