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The Mozambique Defense Ministry announced that its forces began a military operation on Sunday to retake the coastal city of Palma from the hands of militants linked to the Islamic State group, which had taken control of it after attacks that left dozens dead. .
Ministry spokesman Omar Saranga told a press conference in the capital, Maputo, that the army clashed with militants in several locations in order to retake the town, which is located near the border with Tanzania, and includes a one of the largest. Private gas investments in Africa, worth $ 20 billion, in which Total invests. Total) France 4 billion dollars.
Saranga added that the army seeks to contain what it described as terrorist attacks, and restore normalcy in Palma, noting that it has managed to save hundreds of citizens and foreigners.
The same spokesman confirmed the murder of dozens of civilians at the hands of militants linked to ISIS, who call themselves “Al-Shabab”.
For its part, Reuters cited a diplomatic source and another security source that government forces have not yet been able to retake the town, which fell into the hands of the attackers on Friday night after clashes that lasted 48 hours.
Palma is located in an area where Total is leading a foreign investment project near its LNG plant on the Avongi peninsula, and the project was halted in January due to security tensions and escalating insurgency in Cabo province. Delgado (northern Mozambique).
The gunmen began the attack on the city of Palma a day after Total announced its intention to resume work on the project near Mozambique’s northern border with Tanzania.
Bodies in the streets and they are displaced
“Human Rights Watch” quoted witnesses as saying that many bodies were dumped on the streets of the city of Palma and that some of the victims had been beheaded.
And identical sources reported that the gunmen targeted hotels that were housing foreign workers in the gas project, and most of these foreigners were from South Africa, Britain and France.
A convoy of trucks escaping the town was attacked by militants before reaching the shore, killing at least 7 people and disappearing others, while hundreds managed to flee aboard a boat to the city of Pemba, which is located at south. and others hid in the forests surrounding the city.
The British newspaper “The Times” reported that a British contractor was killed during an attack on a hotel in Palma.
For its part, the French company Total announced the evacuation of nearly 1,000 of its employees from the town of Palma, and Mozambican Foreign Minister Armendo Ngunga said that a ship had evacuated them.
The militants had started their attacks in northern Mozambique since 2017 and managed to take control of the city of Mocimboa in Cabo Delgado province, and those attacks resulted in the death of at least 2,600 people and the displacement of another 670,000, according to USA. Nations.
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