Wednesday, October 8, 2025
  • Who’sWho Africa AWARDS
  • About TimeAfrica Magazine
  • Contact Us
Time Africa Magazine
  • Home
  • Magazine
  • WHO’SWHO AWARDS
  • News
  • World News
    • US
    • UAE
    • Europe
    • UK
    • Israel-Hamas
    • Russia-Ukraine
  • Politics
  • Crime
  • Lifestyle
  • Sports
  • Column
  • Interviews
  • Special Report
No Result
View All Result
Time Africa Magazine
  • Home
  • Magazine
  • WHO’SWHO AWARDS
  • News
  • World News
    • US
    • UAE
    • Europe
    • UK
    • Israel-Hamas
    • Russia-Ukraine
  • Politics
  • Crime
  • Lifestyle
  • Sports
  • Column
  • Interviews
  • Special Report
No Result
View All Result
Time Africa Magazine
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • WHO’SWHO AWARDS
  • News
  • Magazine
  • World News

Home » Special Report » New attacks by IS-linked group in Mozambique leave over 70 children missing

New attacks by IS-linked group in Mozambique leave over 70 children missing

March 7, 2024
in Special Report
0
540
SHARES
4.5k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

ReadAlso

No Content Available

A surge of new attacks by an Islamic State-affiliated group in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province has left more than 70 children missing, with fears they may have drowned in a river or been kidnapped by militants as thousands of families fled, local authorities and a group of aid agencies said.

Around 30 families now seeking shelter in Nampula province to the south have asked police to help locate their children, according to a report released Wednesday by the Protection Working Group, a network of non-governmental organizations and United Nations agencies.

The attacks have hit areas that had been relatively untouched since the start of the jihadist insurgency in Cabo Delgado in 2017. They may mark a new stage in a crisis that aid agencies say forced more than a million people to flee their homes during nearly seven years of violence. Thousands were killed.

Cabo Delgado, Mozambique’s northernmost province that borders Tanzania, was thrust into the international spotlight in 2020 and 2021 when insurgents were accused of carrying out mass beheadings, including of children.

The U.N.’s migration agency said nearly 100,000 people were displaced between early February and early March after Islamic State Mozambique fighters launched a new offensive from their heartland in coastal central Cabo Delgado into the south. More than 61,000 of those displaced were children, it said.

Save the Children called it the largest displacement of children in Cabo Delgado in 18 months.

“There are repeated reports of beheadings and abductions, including multiple child victims,” Save the Children said.

The U.N. high commissioner for refugees, Filippo Grandi, is in Cabo Delgado and was due to update on the situation and humanitarian response on Thursday.

A total of 72 children have now been reported missing after the recent attacks, said Albertina Ussene, the Nampula provincial government’s director of gender, children and social action, who was quoted by the Lusa news agency. Ussene told a meeting of provincial officials this week that another 29 children had been reunited with their families.

The report by the Protection Working Group said around 27 villages in southern Cabo Delgado were attacked late last month. It said children and older people were reported to have drowned while trying to escape, and some men were believed to have been kidnapped.

The report said an unconfirmed number of people were killed and 500 buildings, including houses, churches and markets, were destroyed.

The U.N. Children’s Agency said the displacement of tens of thousands more people risks exacerbating cholera outbreaks due to overcrowding and the lack of clean water and sanitary facilities in displacement sites.

Insurgent attacks were relatively limited in Cabo Delgado last year. The head of the Mozambique army, Maj. Gen. Tiago Nampele said in December that the troubled province was “90-95% secure.”

But over the weekend, Islamic State Mozambique fighters occupied the coastal town of Quissanga, one of Cabo Delgado’s district capitals, which the Mozambican military had left unprotected. The next day, insurgents beheaded three members of the security forces on a nearby island.

The army’s ability to stop the killings has long been questioned.

Mozambique has been fighting the jihadist militants in the north since October 2017. Initially known as Ansar al-Sunna, the insurgent group affiliated with Islamic State in 2019. It is composed mostly of Mozambicans with some fighters coming from Tanzania and further abroad.

Islamic State Mozambique’s political goals have not been explicitly stated, but it recently made attempts to impose Islamic law in areas under its influence.

Piers Pigou, the head of southern Africa at the Institute for Security Studies, said the recent mass displacements showed how fragile security in Cabo Delgado remains.

“The government acknowledges that only a handful of insurgents can generate widespread uncertainty,” he said. “This will not change unless communities have far greater belief that the security forces will be able to provide the required stability.”

ADVERTISEMENT
Tags: Armed AttackMissing Persons
ADVERTISEMENT
Previous Post

Tunisian government supporters in uproar over French documentary

Next Post

Pope appears unable to climb a few steps as respiratory and mobility problems take their toll

You MayAlso Like

Special Report

Faked or Factual: UNN Contradictory Claims on Minister Uche Nnaji Certificate Raise Questions of Credibility

October 5, 2025
Special Report

Certificate Scandal: University of Nigeria Declares Minister Uche Nnaji Never Graduated

October 4, 2025
Special Report

World leaders step up efforts behind the scenes at the UN to end the war in Sudan

September 27, 2025
Special Report

African Leaders Call for Bold, United Action to Tackle Global Health Crises, Sustain Malaria Progress

September 27, 2025
Special Report

Dangote vs. NUPENG: Is the Fuel Consumer the Real Casualty?

September 25, 2025
Special Report

Leaked Documents Reveal How Fr. Edwin Obiora Exploited Legal Instruments to Manipulate Late Msgr. Prof. John Bosco Akam

September 22, 2025
Next Post

Pope appears unable to climb a few steps as respiratory and mobility problems take their toll

Liberia - Members of the House of Representatives

Liberia parliament approves creation of war crimes tribunal

Discussion about this post

Kingdom in Crisis: Ogwashi-Uku Rejects Obi’s Land Grab, Villages Ready to Declare Autonomy

Faked or Factual: UNN Contradictory Claims on Minister Uche Nnaji Certificate Raise Questions of Credibility

Woman appointed Archbishop of Canterbury 

A Minister of Lies?: Uche Nnaji’s Certificate Scandal and the Collapse of Credibility in Nigerian Governance

Certificate Scandal: University of Nigeria Declares Minister Uche Nnaji Never Graduated

Uche Nnaji Finally Breaks Silence on Certificate Forgery

  • British government apologizes to Peter Obi, as hired impostors, master manipulators on rampage abroad

    1242 shares
    Share 497 Tweet 311
  • Maids trafficked and sold to wealthy Saudis on black market

    1067 shares
    Share 427 Tweet 267
  • Flight Attendant Sees Late Husband On Plane

    974 shares
    Share 390 Tweet 244
  • ‘Céline Dion Dead 2023’: Singer killed By Internet Death Hoax

    905 shares
    Share 362 Tweet 226
  • Crisis echoes, fears grow in Amechi Awkunanaw in Enugu State

    735 shares
    Share 294 Tweet 184
  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest

British government apologizes to Peter Obi, as hired impostors, master manipulators on rampage abroad

April 13, 2023

Maids trafficked and sold to wealthy Saudis on black market

December 27, 2022
Flight Attendant Sees Late Husband On Plane

Flight Attendant Sees Late Husband On Plane

September 22, 2023
‘Céline Dion Dead 2023’: Singer killed By Internet Death Hoax

‘Céline Dion Dead 2023’: Singer killed By Internet Death Hoax

March 21, 2023
Chief Mrs Ebelechukwu, wife of Willie Obiano, former governor of Anambra state

NIGERIA: No, wife of Biafran warlord, Bianca Ojukwu lied – Ebele Obiano:

0

SOUTH AFRICA: TO LEAVE OR NOT TO LEAVE?

0
kelechi iheanacho

TOP SCORER: IHEANACHA

0
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan

WHAT CAN’TBE TAKEN AWAY FROM JONATHAN

0

Central African Republic become 46th member of AFC

October 8, 2025

Next Steps for African Energy: APPO Must Choose a Visionary Leader to Secure Its Future

October 8, 2025
Prince Harry watching an anti-poaching exercise in Malawi in 2019 during a royal tour of Africa to visit his charities (Getty)

Chad Cuts Ties with Charity Linked to Prince Harry

October 8, 2025

The tiny African nation one win away from qualifying for first-ever World Cup

October 8, 2025

ABOUT US

Time Africa Magazine

TIMEAFRICA MAGAZINE is an African Magazine with a culture of excellence; a magazine without peer. Nearly a third of its readers hold advanced degrees and include novelists, … READ MORE >>

SECTIONS

  • Aviation
  • Column
  • Crime
  • Europe
  • Featured
  • Gallery
  • Health
  • Interviews
  • Israel-Hamas
  • Lifestyle
  • Magazine
  • Middle-East
  • News
  • Politics
  • Press Release
  • Russia-Ukraine
  • Science
  • Special Report
  • Sports
  • TV/Radio
  • UAE
  • UK
  • US
  • World News

Useful Links

  • AllAfrica
  • Channel Africa
  • El Khabar
  • The Guardian
  • Cairo Live
  • Le Republicain
  • Magazine: 9771144975608
  • Subscribe to TIMEAFRICA MAGAZINE biweekly news magazine

    Enjoy handpicked stories from around African continent,
    delivered anywhere in the world

    Subscribe

    • About TimeAfrica Magazine
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • WHO’SWHO AWARDS

    © 2025 TimeAfrica Magazine - All Right Reserved. TimeAfrica Magazine Ltd is published by Times Associates, registered Nigeria. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service.

    No Result
    View All Result
    • WHO’SWHO AWARDS
    • Politics
    • Column
    • Interviews
    • Gallery
    • Lifestyle
    • Special Report
    • Sports
    • TV/Radio
    • Aviation
    • Health
    • Science
    • World News

    © 2025 TimeAfrica Magazine - All Right Reserved. TimeAfrica Magazine Ltd is published by Times Associates, registered Nigeria. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service.

    This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.