Islamist militants have beheaded more than 50 people in a football ground in a village in northern Mozambique. The attack was carried out by an ISIS-linked group in the village of Muatide in conflict-ridden Cabo Delgado province and spanned several days. The attackers set fire to several villages and gathered together people they had captured from nearby forests on a single football pitch, where the victims were then decapitated and their bodies chopped to pieces, while women from the villages were abducted. The militants reportedly turned a football pitch into an ‘execution ground and decapitated the bodies. The terrorists chanted ‘Allahu Akbar’ as they raided Nanjaba village on Friday night and set homes on fire.
The gas-rich northern Mozambique region has witnessed several brutal attacks involving killings by the ISIS-affiliated local group known as Ahlu Sunnah Wa-Jamo, or simply al-Shabaab locally, though they have no relation to the better-known Somali group. In April 2020, 52 people were either shot or beheaded after they refused to join the militants’ ranks, while in March the militants burnt government buildings including a police headquarters in an attack that left dozens of law enforcement officials dead. In May 2018, at least 10 people were beheaded in two villages in northern Mozambique that are close to their border with Tanzania. The militants have targeted isolated villages over the past months as they try to exert greater influence in the region, as a result of which thousands of people have fled.
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