It is not yet known whether there are any Namibians dead or injured in the deadly insurgent attack on Palma in Mozambique.

International relations minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah yesterday said she has not received any news on whether there are Namibians involved in the attack. 

“As you know, Maputo is covered by our high commissioner, who is based in Zimbabwe. I spoke to her this morning and she has not received any reports regarding Namibians’ involvement,” Nandi-Ndaitwah told New Era yesterday. 

Dozens of people were reportedly killed in coordinated jihadist attacks in northern Mozambique’s Palma town, the government said on Sunday, four days after the raid was launched and forced the evacuation of thousands of survivors to safety in the provincial capital Pemba.

Seven people were killed in an ambush during an operation to evacuate them from a hotel where they had sought refuge, it said.

“Last Wednesday, a group of terrorists sneaked into... Palma and launched actions that resulted in the cowardly murder of dozens of defenceless people,” Mozambique’s defence ministry spokesman Omar Saranga told a news conference.

Foreigners were among those caught in the violence, but the government did not say how many foreign nationals were killed. The militant attack on Palma is the closest yet to the major gas project during a three-year Islamist insurgency across Mozambique’s north.

Since October 2017, extremist fighters have raided villages and towns in the region, forcing nearly 700 000 to flee their homes. 

- Additional reporting IOL