By MOZTIMES
Pemba (MOZTIMES) – An officer of the police Rapid Intervention Unit (UIR) was killed on Thursday night (5 February) in an attack carried out by insurgents in the village of Mumu, Oasse locality, in the district of Mocímboa da Praia.
In the same attack, three children aged 12, 13 and 14 were abducted. Two of them are girls.
The village of Mumu is located along the main N380 road, around 20 kilometres from the district capital of Mocímboa da Praia. There is a permanent UIR position in the area, which responded to the attack but was unable to repel the insurgents.
According to information provided by local residents, the insurgents entered Mumu during the night and broke into a house where a UIR officer was sleeping. The officer was killed at the scene.
During the incursion, several huts belonging to local residents were set on fire, and there was an exchange of gunfire between the attackers and the defence and security forces stationed in the village.
In the same attack, another UIR officer was seriously injured and was later evacuated to the Mocímboa da Praia rural hospital, with the support of Rwandan forces deployed in the region.
On Friday (6 February), another group of insurgents entered the village of Nanquidunga, also in Mocímboa da Praia district. The attackers looted food supplies from the local population. According to residents, this is the second time in less than two weeks that insurgents have been seen in that village. There was no response from government defence forces or from the Rwandan forces. (MT)
