In a community in the insurgents-infested northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado, five youths dressed as insurgents have set 13 houses ablaze.
According to the authorities, the young men pretended to be insurgents in order to rob residents and cart valuables away.
Vicente Chicote, the provincial police chief, said one of the individuals was recognised and apprehended by the local populace and is presently being held in police custody.
He claimed that young individuals in the neighborhood had pretended to be insurgents in the past with the objective of robbing local communities.
The insurgency in Cabo Delgado in the region of East Africa and the ongoing conflict in Cabo Delgado Province, Mozambique, mainly fought amongst insurgents attempting to establish an Islamic state in the region, and Mozambican security forces.
Civilians have been the main targets of terrorist attacks by militants. The main insurgent faction is Ansar al-Sunna, a native extremist faction with international connections. From mid-2018, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has allegedly become active in northern Mozambique as well. They claimed their first attack against Mozambican security forces in June 2019.
In 2011, Northern Mozambique gained much international attention when large offshore gas fields containing up to 425 billion cubic metres of gas, were discovered.
With the goal of becoming a major international player in the energy sector, Mozambique’s government has prioritised the region’s economic attractiveness and has sent its army to ensure the safety of planned investments.