Renamo gunmen spread terror in Murrupula

Maputo (AIM) – Gunmen of the Mozambican rebel movement Renamo launched a pre-dawn attack on Saturday against the Nihessiue administrative post, in Murrupula district, in the northern province of Nampula, according to a report on the independent television station, STV.

Source: Renamo gunmen spread terror in Murrupula – The Zimbabwean 30.08.2016

The gunmen attacked the police post, the health centre, the home of the head of the administrative post, and the local offices of the ruling Frelimo Party.

“They arrived at about five o’clock in the morning and opened fire”, said Augusto Monteiro, head of the health centre. “We had to transfer our patients. We took them and their relatives into the bush where we thought they would be safer”.

A security guard, Maulina Mesa, said the attackers “sang happily and said they were from Renamo”. They were wearing the green uniforms characteristic of the Renamo militia, and were ordering Nihessiue residents to abandon their homes and head for the bush.

At the home of the head of the post, the raiders looted foodstuffs, and stole poultry from the henhouse.   The gunmen had come looking for the head of the post, but he left his house by the back door, and escaped.

According to the Murrupula district administrator, Antonio Saul, nobody died in the attack. The gunmen smashed windows in several buildings, including the health centre, and the administrative post offices. The information Saul gathered was that there were 10 raiders, only two of whom were in Renamo uniforms.

This is the first time there has been a significant attack in Nampula since Renamo resumed its insurrection in February.