Heinous murder: Terrorists behead 11 children in Mozambique

Amira Sherif

In a heinous crime carried out by extremist groups in Mozambique, the Save the Children organization stated that children as young as 11 years old have been killed in the cycle of violence perpetrated by terrorists in northeastern Mozambique.

The London-based aid organization expressed its “anger and deep sadness” over reports of children being targeted in the conflict in Cabo Delgado province in the north of the country, which has large gas resources but is witnessing a horrific extremist insurgency.

According to media reports, the fighting in the north of the country has killed 2,600 people, more than half of them civilians, and led to the displacement of 670,000 people.

A mother, whose name has been withheld to protect her identity, stated that her 12-year-old son was beheaded while she was hiding with her other children. “That night, they attacked our village and burned our homes,” she told Save the Children, adding, “We tried to escape to the forest, but they took my eldest son and cut off his head. We couldn’t do anything because we were going to be killed as well.” She buried the body of her son and then fled her home in agony.

“After my son was killed, we realized that our village was no longer safe. We fled to my father’s house in another village, but after a few days the attacks started there as well,” she said.

“One of our biggest concerns is that the needs of displaced children and their families in Cabo Delgado exceed the resources we have available to support them,” said Chance Briggs, Save the Children’s director in Mozambique, adding that “nearly a million people face acute hunger as a direct result of this conflict, whether from the displaced or the communities that host them.”

The Al-Shabaab movement launched a series of terrorist attacks in the region starting in 2017 and pledged allegiance to ISIS in 2019. The terrorist movement faces charges of beheading and violating the inviolability of corpses.

At the beginning of March, Amnesty International accused extremists, government forces and a “special militia” supporting the authorities of committing atrocities that they said amounted to war crimes in Mozambique, explaining that the situation has deteriorated significantly over the past year with the escalation of attacks.

In this context, the New York Times revealed an American role in the ongoing war in Mozambique between government forces and one of the branches of ISIS, which is threatening a vital natural gas project.

In a report prepared by Declan Walsh and Eric Schmitt, it was stated that US Special Operations Forces recently began training Mozambican forces as part of the counterinsurgency efforts in northern Mozambique, which US officials say is linked to ISIS.

The report said that the revolt, which is taking place close to the largest natural gas reserves in the world, has killed about 2,000 civilians and displaced 670,000 others. The US program is modest in its size and focus, and it consists of dozens of Green Beret soldiers who will train naval forces in Mozambique over the next two months, but the mere participation of special operations forces even in training operations indicates Washington’s entry into the counterinsurgency efforts, which have so far involved South African mercenaries who are facing charges of human rights violations.

The war in Mozambique is part of an alarming expansion of the rebel movements, which are believed to have links with ISIS in a number of African countries, the report added.

Last year, militants seized swathes of the Cabo Delgado region in the north of the country, including a port on the Indian Ocean, and they slaughtered hundreds of civilians, according to human rights organizations.

“I don’t think anyone expected this,” said US Special Operations Command Africa (SOCAFRICA) Deputy Commander Colonel Richard Schmidt, adding in a phone call that “this quickly emerging is worrisome.”

Last week, the United States placed the group Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jamaah (ASWJ) on the list of global terrorist entities and imposed sanctions on its leader, Abu Yasir Hassan.

Due to the disagreement between the army and the police in Mozambique over how to handle the rebellion, efforts to combat it have been hampered and the country has resorted to security contractors.

There are believed to be 160 mercenaries belonging to the Kremlin-linked Wagner Group who arrived in Mozambique but quickly withdrew after the rebels killed seven of them, US officials said.