A woman walks with her child through the fishing village of Paquitequete near Pemba on March 29, 2021. Sailing boats are expected to arrive with people displaced from the coasts of Palma and Afungi after suffering attacks by armed groups since last March 24. Dozens of people were killed in coordinated jihadist attacks in northern Mozambique's Palma town, the government said on Sunday, four days after the raid was launched and forced the evacuation of thousands of survivors to safety in the provincial capital Pemba. (ALFREDO ZUNIGA / AFP)
JOHANNESBURG – Islamic State on Monday formally claimed an attack on the northern Mozambique gas town of Palma, the SITE intelligence group said on Monday.
Dozens of people were killed after Islamist insurgents linked to Islamic State launched an assault on the town on Wednesday.
The dead included seven people when a convoy of cars was ambushed in an escape attempt. Hundreds of other people, both local and foreigners, have been rescued from the town, next to gas projects worth US$60 billion, said Omar Saranga, a spoeksman for the country's defense and security forces.
“The defense and security forces registered the loss of seven lives of a group of citizens that left the Amarula hotel in a convoy that was ambushed by the terrorists,” Saranga said.
The province of Cabo Delgado, where the town Palma is located, has since 2017 been the target of a simmering Islamist insurgency linked to Islamic State
A South African woman, Meryl Knox, told Reuters her son Adrian Nel had died in that ambush. Her husband and another son hid with his body in the bush until the following morning, when they were able to make it to safety in Pemba. A British contractor had also been killed, Britain’s Times newspaper said.
The province of Cabo Delgado, where the town is located, has since 2017 been the target of a simmering Islamist insurgency linked to Islamic State.
Hundreds of people fleeing the attack are arriving by boat in the port city of Pemba, a diplomat and an aid worker said.
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Saranga said the security forces were seeking to “eliminate some pockets of resistance” after spending the past three days focusing mainly on rescuing local and foreign citizens. It has not specified the name of the group and there has been no claim of responsibility.
“On March 24, a group of terrorists penetrated… the headquarters of Palma village and unleashed actions that culminated with the assassination of dozens of defenseless people,” he said in the most specific information yet on the number of casualties in an area where communications are poor.
Militants struck Palma, a logistics hub for international gas projects worth US$60 billion, on Wednesday. The government has yet to re-establish control, the diplomat and a security source directly involved in the operations to secure Palma said.
This AFP graphic dated March 28, 2021 shows the map of Mozambique locating the province of Cabo Delgado and the town of Palma.
Reuters could not independently verify the accounts, as most communications with Palma were cut on Wednesday.
Islamic State-linked militants struck Palma, a logistics hub for international gas projects worth US$60 billion, on Wednesday. The government has yet to re-establish control, said the diplomat and a security source directly involved in the operations to secure Palma
Calls to officials at the foreign ministry and provincial government went unanswered or did not go through on Sunday.
The boats arriving in Pemba on Sunday carried both locals and foreigners, including employees from the gas projects, the aid official and diplomat said. One boat was carrying around 1,300 people, said the diplomat.
French energy group Total said on Saturday it was calling off a planned resumption of construction at its US$20 billion development following the attack and would reduce its workforce to a “strict minimum”.
The company pulled out the majority of its workforce in January due to security issues.
Witnesses have described bodies in the streets of Palma, some of them beheaded. On Friday, militants ambushed a convoy of people, including foreign workers, attempting to escape a hotel.
Government-contracted helicopters were searching for more survivors on Sunday. Lionel Dyck, who runs a private security firm working with the government, said his helicopters had rescued some 120 people overall.
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The exact number of people injured and killed in the four-day assault on Palma, or still unaccounted for, remained unclear. The town had previously been a refuge for people fleeing violence elsewhere in the province.
