Sunday, October 03, 2021

Mozambique: SADC Forces Kill Terrorist Leader

Roberto Paquete/Deutsche Welle

Mozambican troops have been battling militants in Cabo Delgado since 2017.

3 OCTOBER 2021

Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique (Maputo)

Maputo — The SADC (Southern African Development Community) Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM) on Saturday announced that it has killed a leader of the ISIS terrorists operating in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.

The man, named as Rajab Awadhi Ndanjili, was killed a week ago when SAMIM overran a terrorist base at Chitama, in Nangade district, which borders on Tanzania. SAMIM announced the capture of the Chitama base on 26 September, and has now confirmed that one of the 18 terrorists killed in the clash was Ndanjili, also known as Sheikh Njili North.

Ndanjili, a native of the Nangade village of Litinginya, "was a leader of the religious sect of Al Sunnah wa Jama'ah", said the SAMIM statement. This is one of the various names used by the terrorist group.

SAMIM says Ndanjili was regarded as "determinant in the recruitment and indoctrination of members of the group".

He is believed to have been one of those who orchestrated the first terrorist raid, against police installations in Mocimboa da Praia district, on 5 October 2017.

On Saturday, according to a report on the "Voice of America" radio station, a terrorist group attacked Namatili village, in Mueda district. There were no casualties, but the raiders left a message, written in Swahili and Arabic, demanding that the Mozambican authorities return the weapons captured from the group.

The message said "you must return the weapons at the place where you took them as quickly as possible". If this demand is rejected, "a village in Mueda will be turned into an inferno", the terrorists menaced.

Making such an absurd demand may indicate that the terrorists are running short of arms and ammunition.

According to the VOA report, the gang who attacked the village were riding motor-cycles and brandishing firearms of various types. The panicked villagers fled into the nearby bush.

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