Twelve Beheaded Foreigners Discovered In Aftermath Of ISIS Attack On Mozambique’s Palma

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Twelve individuals were found beheaded in the northern Mozambican town of Palma following a militant attack claimed by ISIS, Reuters reported citing local police sources.

Commander Pedro da Silva told journalists visiting the town that he could not be sure of the nationalities of the 12 people, but he believed they were foreigners because they were white.

“They were tied up and beheaded here,” he said in footage broadcast on TVM, as he pointed to areas of disturbed earth where he said he buried the bodies himself.

Regional leaders from countries including South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana met in Mozambique’s capital Maputo on April 8^th, to consider a way to deal with the situation in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province.

Mozambique’s foreign minister Veronica Macamo Dlhovo said the leaders resolved to send a mission to Mozambique in April 2021.

“The mission will come to assess the dimensions of the threat and to see what means to employ, so that these means are proportionate,” she said.

A communique issued after the meeting referred to a “technical deployment” to Mozambique and said further meetings of regional bloc SADC would be convened.

The technical deployment to the Republic of Mozambique, and the convening of an Extraordinary Meeting of the Ministerial Committee of the Organ will take place by April 28^th, 2021.

The government has said dozens died in the latest assault that began on March 24, and aid groups believe tens of thousands have been displaced. But the full scale of the casualties and displacement remains unclear.

National police spokesman Orlando Mudumane said he had seen the TVM footage but could not confirm its contents, and that they were investigating.

The TVM footage was taken outside the Amarula hotel, where a large group, including foreigners and locals, were besieged by insurgents in the days following the attack.

After several days, in which ISIS had captured the town, and it became almost entirely desolate, the Mozambican army managed to recapture it and it is now reportedly safe.

MORE ON THE TOPIC:

• Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado has been plagued by ISIS for years
• Neglecting Chaos Until It Backfires Is A Poor Strategy In Mozambique