At least 20 people have been beheaded in northern Mozambique by Islamic militant, children being among those targeted in Monjane village in Cabo Delgado province, a hotspot for mining and petroleum.
The Islamic militant group has a history of launching attacks in the region the whole of last year. The group that was formed in 2015 has been making millions of dollars from selling timber and rubies.
A statement by one of the victims, who is also the Monjane village elder, indicated that the attackers went for the chief as he was providing police officers with information about the outlawed group. Research has also shown that members of the group were stanch followers of Kenyan radical Islamic scholar, Abud Rogo, who was killed in 2012. After his death, his followers escaped to Kibiti, southern Tanzania close to the border of Mozambique.
Since last year October, police have arrested 200 of the militants.
Earlier this month, Mozambique’s parliament approved a bill that would punish acts of terrorism with jail terms of up to 24 years
