ISIS-Linked Outfit Beheads 50 Civilians in Mozambique

Over 50 civilians were beheaded in Northern Mozambique’s Cado Delgado province, including the abduction and kidnapping of women and children, over the past 3 days, reported Al Jazeera.

Reports say Miudumbe and Macomia villages were attacked by Al-Shabab, a group that pledged alliance to the ISIS in 2017.

The decapitated bodies were found in a forest clearing in Muidumbe district, as per the report. Five adults and 15 boys were at an initiation rites ceremony when these attacks took place.

Body parts were sent to families for burial. An aid worker in Mueda told Al Jazeera that “the funerals were in an environment of great pain”.

French President Emmanuel Macron has condemned the incident in a tweet.

"More than 50 people have been beheaded, women kidnapped, villages looted and then set on fire," he said, adding "Barbarians hijack a religion of peace to sow terror: Islamist terrorism is an international threat that calls for an international response."

Increasing Insurgency in Mozambique

Violence continues to surge in the Tanzania-bordering province which is a multibillion-dollar gas project site.

The US-Based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project shows that the violence has killed more than 2,000 people in 3 years with more than 50% of them being civilians.

António Guterres, UN Secretary General, has called for an investigation into the matters on Tuesday evening. “The secretary-general is shocked over recent reports of massacres by non-state armed groups in several villages … including the reported beheading and kidnapping of women and children,” said his spokesman.

Nearly 50 people were murdered in April after refusing to join the organisation’s ranks. Amnesty International reports that these attacks have caused a humanitarian crisis in Northern Mozambique, with more than 712,000 people in need of assistance, and 300,000 people internally displaced. In September, Amnesty accused Mozambican soldiers of committing atrocities as violence spread, however the defence ministry dismissed the reports, responding that the attackers often dressed to impersonate soldiers.