Suspected terrorists burn churches, 95 homes in Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado

By Jamal Jamal

LILONGWE, Malawi (AA) - At least two churches and 95 homes were burned in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province in a fresh wave of attacks that police attributed to terrorist groups.

Orlando Modumane, the spokesperson for the Police of the Republic of Mozambique (PRM), told Anadolu on Wednesday that the suspected terrorists invaded the communities of Nkole and Ngura in Ancuabe district on Sunday but later disappeared, only to return the following day.

“They invaded the two communities in broad daylight, armed with guns and machetes, and after setting ablaze the two churches and the 95 houses, they fled with 15 motor bikes belonging to the residents. There has been no record of deaths among the communities, but a lot of them had to flee for safety,” Modumane said.

Since 2017, the gas-rich region has been experiencing an armed rebellion that has displaced 10,000 people who include women and children, according to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

In 2024 alone, at least 349 people died in the attacks, according to a study released by the Africa Centre for Strategic Studies (ACSS), an academic institution within the US Department of Defense.