Mozambicans who survived an Islamist attack last month on the coastal town of Palma were hosted at a UN camp in Pemba further north, Sputnik has been told
PEMBA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th April, 2021) Mozambicans who survived an Islamist attack last month on the coastal town of Palma were hosted at a UN camp in Pemba further north, Sputnik has been told.
A Sputnik correspondent in Pemba spoke to Fatima Assan, Fatima Bateeshda and Maria Zube who had escaped the deadly onslaught in the Cabo Delgado province.
"We were rescued [and moved] from Palma to Pemba. We had been hiding in bushes waiting to be rescued. The Mozambican forces were able to find us and evacuate us to a transit camp in Pemba," one of the survivors said.
They said they had lost family members and livelihoods to the attack by Islamists, who are locally known as al-Shabaab. The militants launched an insurgency in 2017 and pledged alliance to the Islamic State terror group (banned in Russia).
The UN refugee agency set up a temporary camp at a provincial basketball stadium. It has a water tank and is supplied with food by charities.
Mozambique's security forces said Sunday that Palma had been recaptured from the militants, almost two weeks after the deadly invasion. Brigadier Chongo Vidigal was cited as saying by RM radio that troops were ready to help the population return home.
