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JOHANNESBURG, Nov. 11 (Reuters) – The United Nations called on Mozambique to investigate reports that militants had massacred villagers and beheaded women and children in a troubled northern region.
Up to 50 people have been killed in recent days in attacks by fighters linked to the Islamic State, local media such as Mediafax and The Pinnacle News reported.
Violence had escalated this year in Cabo Delgado, a province that borders Tanzania and is the site of a multi-billion dollar natural gas project, alarming governments in southern Africa.
UN Secretary General António Guterres called for an investigation in a statement late Tuesday.
“The secretary general is shocked by recent reports of massacres by non-state armed groups in various villages … including the beheading and kidnapping of women and children,” his spokesman said.
There was no immediate response from the government.
Militants seeking to forge an Islamist state launched attacks in Cabo Delgado in 2017. They have seized key cities for short periods and hit military targets this year.
In September, Amnesty International accused Mozambican soldiers of committing atrocities during the crackdown on violence, but the Defense Ministry dismissed the reports, saying the militants routinely posed as soldiers. (Reporting by Promit Mukherjee in Johannesburg and Manuel Mucari in Maputo; Edited by Andrew Heavens)
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