Rebels besiege northern Mozambique town for fifth day

Dozens of people are still unaccounted for following a deadly attack in Cabo Delgado province's Palma town even as thousands of survivors are being evacuated to provincial capital Pemba, sources say.

Militants have seized control of the northern Mozambique town of Palma, near a huge gas project involving French oil major Total and other international energy companies, security sources say. (AFP)

Rebels have fought to control a strategic town in northern Mozambique for the fifth straight day, as reports came in that dozens of civilians have been killed and bodies were littering the streets of Palma.

Dozens of people have been killed, a spokesman for the defence and security forces said on Sunday, including seven people killed when their convoy of cars was ambushed as they tried to escape.

Hundreds of other people, both locals and foreigners, have been rescued from the town, located near gas projects worth $60billion, spokesman Omar Saranga told journalists.

The fate of scores of foreign workers was also unknown on Sunday.

Some of the dead had been beheaded, according to Human Rights Watch.

The battle for Palma highlights the military and humanitarian crisis in this Southern African nation on the Indian Ocean.

The three-year insurgency of the rebels, who are primarily disaffected young Muslim men, in the northern Cabo Delgado province has taken more than 2,600 lives and displaced an estimated 670,000 people, according to the UN.

Source: https://www.trtworld.com/asia/rebels-besiege-northern-mozambique-town-for-fifth-day-45402