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Mozambique town deserted after ISIL attack

Deadly assault on Palma is the biggest escalation in violence that has wreaked havoc across northern Mozambique.

Men keep an eye on the sea at the port of the Paquitequete neighbourhood where sailing boats are expected to arrive with people displaced from the coasts of Palma and Afungi after attacks by armed groups. [Alfredo Zuniga/AFP]
Published On 30 Mar 2021

Mozambique security forces are battling a prolonged deadly assault on the key northern town of Palma by fighters linked to ISIL (ISIS).

The town was all but deserted nearly a week after the raid was launched, its residents fleeing by road, boat or on foot.

The attackers stormed the town last Wednesday, intensifying an armed uprising that has spread across northern Mozambique since 2017.

Dozens of people, according to the ISIL and the authorities, were killed in what witnesses describe as a coordinated attack, and an unknown number of them are still missing.

It is the biggest and closest raid to a multibillion-dollar gas project being built on a peninsula just 10km (6 miles) away by France’s Total and other energy giants.

Many survivors said they walked for days to seek refuge in Mueda, 180km (112 miles) to the south.

“Many people fell from fatigue and were unable to continue walking, especially the elderly and children,” said one escapee in Mueda who did not wish to be named.

Armed groups attacked the town last Wednesday, upping the stakes in an uprising that has spread bloodily across northern Mozambique since 2017. [Alfredo Zuniga/AFP]
A child plays in one of the alleys of the port of Paquitequete near Pemba. [Alfredo Zuniga/AFP]
Dozens of people were killed in coordinated attacks in northern Mozambique's Palma town, days after the raid was launched and forced the evacuation of thousands to safety in the provincial capital Pemba. [Alfredo Zuniga/AFP]
The OCSV Sapura Diamante, a pipe layer vessel used in offshore construction, is seen docked at the port of Pemba. [Alfredo Zuniga/AFP]
The attack forced expatriate workers and locals to seek refuge temporarily at a heavily guarded gas plant located on the nearby Afungi Peninsula. [Alfredo Zuniga/AFP]
Pemba is already packed with hundreds of thousands of other people displaced by the violence, which has uprooted nearly 700,000 from their homes across the vast province. [Alfredo Zuniga/AFP]
Residents walk through water on the coast of Paquitequete where sailing boats are expected to arrive with people displaced from the coasts of Palma and Afungi. [Alfredo Zuniga/AFP]
The brutal, calculated raid broke a three-month hiatus in attacks widely attributed to the January-March rainy season. [Alfredo Zuniga/AFP]
The United Nations condemned the assault on Palma and said it was coordinating closely with local authorities to provide assistance to those affected by the violence. [Alfredo Zuniga/AFP]