MAPUTO (Mozambique) – More than 180 people, including expatriate workers, are trapped inside a hotel in a northern Mozambique town under siege by insurgents for three days, said employees and security sources yesterday.
Several people are reportedly dead, according to witnesses and a rights group, after the attack in Palma near a liquified natural gas (LNG) site in Cabo Delgado province.
French oil giant Total is the principal investor in the US$20 billion (RM82.9 billion) project – Africa’s largest – with six other international firms including ExxonMobil involved in the area.
Jihadist militants began a raid on the coastal town on Wednesday afternoon, forcing terrified residents to flee into surrounding forests as LNG and government workers sought shelter at the Amarula Palma hotel.
“Almost the entire town was destroyed. Many people are dead,” said a worker on the LNG site by phone yesterday evening after he was evacuated to Afungi.
He did not give details on the casualties nor their nationalities.
“As locals fled to the bush, workers from LNG companies, including foreigners, took refuge in the hotel, where they are waiting to be rescued,” he said, asking not to be named.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the attackers are linked to a group known locally as Al-Shabab, which has no known direct link to the Somalian jihadist organisation with a similar name.
“Several witnesses told HRW that they saw bodies on the streets and residents fleeing after Al-Shabab fighters fired indiscriminately at people and buildings,” said the organisation in a statement yesterday.
South African news website News24 reported that one of the country’s citizens died in the assault.
Another worker from a company subcontracted by Total said helicopters flew over the hotel earlier yesterday, trying to find “a corridor to rescue the approximately 180 people trapped” inside.
“But until nightfall, many people remained on the premises, while militants tried to advance towards the hotel.”
In an unverified clip shared on social media, an unidentified man filmed the hotel lobby, showing several people milling around the patio.
With the buzzing sound of a chopper in the background, he described the situation as “critical”.
“We don't know if we will be rescued,” he said, adding that the hotel has run out of food, but still has water.
The Mozambique government on Thursday confirmed the attack on the town, and said soldiers have launched an offensive to repel the militants.
The fresh round of attacks began on Wednesday hours after Total announced a gradual resumption of work at the LNG project, which has been hampered by the ongoing insurgency in the region.
Militants affiliated with the Islamic State group have raided villages and towns across the province, causing nearly 700,000 to flee their homes.
The violence has left at least 2,600 people dead, half of them civilians, according to United States-based data-collecting agency Armed Conflict Location and Event Data.
In a statement yesterday, the US embassy here condemned the attack on Palma, pledging its commitment “to work with the government of Mozambique to counter violent extremism”. – AFP, March 27, 2021
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