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'Significant' Number of Rebels Killed in Retaking of Mozambican City,
Military Says

Agence France-Presse

   MAPUTO, MOZAMBIQUE - A"significant"number of rebels were shot dead by
   Mozambican forces in operations to retake the northeastern city of
   Palma, which fell into the hands of jihadi groups after a bloody attack
   March 24, the military said Sunday.

   "It is not yet over'¦but a significant number of terrorists have been
   shot,"the commander of operations in Palma, Chongo Vidigal,
   toldreporters.

   Eleven days ago, armed groups attacked the strategic port city in a
   carefully prepared raid, launched just a few kilometers from a
   multibillion-euro megaliquefied natural gasproject led by the French
   group Total.

   The first images of thecity of 75,000 inhabitantsseensince the attack
   were broadcast on local television. The footage showed a few bodies
   lying in the streets, houses in ruins and vehicles in ashes. A few
   civilianswerecollecting food.
   In this image taken from militant video released by the Islamic State
   group on March 29, 2021, purporting to show fighters near the strategic
   north eastern Mozambique town of Palma.

   The attack, claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group, officially killed
   dozens of civilians, police and soldiers. The actual number of victims
   is not yet known.

   The French group Total has evacuated staff from its gas site on
   theAfungiPeninsula and theproject has come to a standstill.

   For several days, the soldiers have been trying to retake Palma, which
   fell into rebel hands on the night of March 26 after an attack
   considered the biggest escalation since the violence began more than
   three years ago.

   Thousands of troops have been deployed, but since the first attacks in
   2017, government forces have been unable to effectively fight the
   rebels terrorizing the impoverished Cabo Delgado province on the border
   with Tanzania.

   Locally referred to as Al-Shababwhich translates tomean"the youth"in
   Arabic, they pledged allegiance to the IS group.

   About11,000 peoplewere displaced by the latest attack, according to the
   International Organization for Migration. More than670,000 peoplehad
   already been forced to leave their homes because of the violence in the
   region, according to the U.N.

   TheArmed Conflict Location & Event Data Project or ACLED,
   anonprofitorganizationtracking globalarmedviolence,recorded 2,600were
   killedbefore the attack on Palma, half of them civilians.

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