Twelve people, possibly foreigners, were beheaded in the Mozambique attack: police

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Twelve people, possibly foreigners, were found beheaded after an Islamic State-sponsored attack in the northern city of Palma, a local police commander told the station state.

Commander Pedro da Silva told reporters visiting the city, about $ 60 billion worth of natural gas projects, that he could not be sure of the nationalities of the twelve people, but believed they were foreigners because they were white .

“They were tied up and beheaded here,” he said in images aired on TVM on Wednesday, pointing to disturbed land areas where he said he buried the bodies himself.

Insurgents linked to the Islamic State have been increasingly active since 2017 in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, where Palma is located, although it is unclear whether they have a unified goal.

Regional leaders from countries such as South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana met Thursday in Maputo, Mozambique’s capital, to consider a response to the insurgency.

Mozambique Foreign Minister Veronica Macamo Dlhovo said the leaders decided to send a mission to Mozambique this month.

“The mission will come to assess the dimensions of the threat and see what means are used, so that those means are proportionate,” he said.

A statement issued after Thursday’s meeting referred to a “technical deployment” in Mozambique and said new meetings of the SADC regional bloc would be convened.

The government has said tens died in the latest assault that began on March 24 and aid groups believe tens of thousands have been displaced. But the full scale of casualties and displacements remains unclear.

National police spokesman Orlando Mudumane said he had seen the TVM footage but could not confirm its contents and that they were investigating.

Reuters has not been able to verify the accounts of the attack on Palma independently. Most of the media with the city was cut off after the attack.

The army says Palma is already safe, after soldiers cleared a final part of the city.

TVM footage was taken outside the Amarula Hotel, where a large group, including foreigners and locals, were besieged by insurgents in the days following the attack.

The group had tried to escape in a convoy of cars on March 26, but were ambushed right at the gates. Seven died, the government said. It included a British and a South African. Their bodies have already been removed from Palma.