Mozambican President Fillip Nyusi has accused retreating jihadist fighters in Cabo Delgado province of carrying out pogroms involving innocent civilians including a Christian missionary.
Nyusi who was speaking in the town of Xai Xai said the IS-backed insurgents had gone on a killing spree while a joint Southern African force was hot on their heels.
Witnesses say seven civilians including an Italian nun were summarily executed by the jihadists in Nampula province as troops under the Southern African Development Community (SADC) intervention force closed in on them.
The Nampula province Secretary of State Mety Gondola said the 83-year-old nun, who lived in Nacala was shot dead on Tuesday evening.
Two other missionaries had fled for their lives.
Claiming responsibility for the deadly raids which also led to the burning down of a church, the Islamic State fighters claimed the missionary had ”gone too far in spreading Christianity”.
Six of the jihadist fighters have been rounded up and three civilians who were kidnapped by the insurgents have not been accounted for, local state aothhrities said.
During the raid by the insurgents in the Nampula districts of Memba and Erati, homes were set ablaze and crops destroyed.
Since 2017, thousands have died in the insurgency in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province, undermining economic activities around the region’s gas exploration.
WN/as/APA