An unknown armed group kidnapped three women between Saturday and Sunday in the district of Meluco, Cabo Delgado, local sources in this area of northern Mozambique told Lusa.
The southern part of the province has been the last focus of the armed insurgency that has plagued the region for almost five years.
Over the weekend, an armed group attacked the communities of Chicomo and Iba, where they burned houses, kidnapping two women in the first village and another in the second, said one of the sources from Macomia, a village to which he fled in search of of security.
According to the same source, after the attacks in March and April, the populations of the two communities were already returning to the expectation that security would be restored.
“We were going back, because everything seemed to be fine, but it took us by surprise: my family and I are not going back now,” he said, adding that he still has bags packed to continue his trip to Pemba.
Another source said that although there were no reports of deaths, populations are fleeing.
“Both I and others are looking for safe places. Here in the interior the situation is weaker”, he said from the district seat of Meluco, 54 kilometers from Estrada Nacional 1.
the district of Meluco had already been the scene of another kidnapping at the end of Maywhen an armed group kidnapped a health technician.
Source: Observadora
