At least 10 people in Mozambique, an African country with a population of around 29 million people, reportedly had their heads cut off over the weekend in what is suspected to be an Islamist militant group attack.
Al-Shabaab, an organization with no confirmed ties to a seemingly similar internationally designated terrorist faction in the region with the same name, is believed to have been responsible, according to multiple reports. It has been accused of multiple attacks on the continent, specifically Mozambique, in recent months. Children were allegedly targets in the latest fatal assaults.
A person in the community said the leader of the Monjane village was one of the victims.
“They targeted the chief as he had been providing information to the police about the location of al-Shabaab in forests,” a local resident told Agence France-Presse on Tuesday, with others reportedly backing up the claim that Islamists were behind the brutal violence.
The exact identity of the culprits, however, is not yet known.
A district administrator for a nearby town said that security teams have been situated in locations with a suspected increased chance of further attacks, according to AFP. (RELATED: US Forces Attack Islamic Terrorists In Iraq, Syria and Somalia)
Mozambique’s religious demographics, according to the CIA, include: 28.4 percent Roman Catholic, 17.9 percent Muslim and 12.2 percent Protestant, among other faith and sects.
Several mosques were reopened May 25 after authorities closed them following another attack blamed on Islamist groups by a number of people.
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