Pemba, Mozambique, April 12, 2026 (Lusa) - An official source confirmed to Lusa on Sunday that at least one civilian has been killed, and several suspected terrorists wounded during a Saturday raid on the village of Nkoe, in the Macomia district of Cabo Delgado.
According to the source, the terrorists killed the civilian whilst attempting to return to the village after the attack, hoping the situation had calmed down.
“They killed a young man after we engaged in combat. Some of the terrorists had fled and others had not; they were hiding, and the young man was unaware of this and wanted to return to the village. That was when they fatally shot the civilian,” said the source, speaking from Macomia.
The source added that the Local Force (paramilitaries) wounded several rebels after falling into an ambush.
“There really was a firefight there; we knew they were coming, so we set up an ambush, and the terrorists fell into it. Many were wounded, and I believe some were killed too, because the shooting was intense,” the source said.
The joint force, comprising paramilitaries and Defence and Security Forces, remains on the ground to try to halt the enemy’s advance.
During the night from Friday to Saturday, the population of Nkoé fled into the forests following terrorist groups' attacks on the village.
According to local residents, the attack on the village of Nkoé, located about 15 kilometres from National Road 1 (EN1), one of the few paved roads in the region, took place around 11.00 p.m. (10.00 p.m. Lisbon time) on Friday and continued into the early hours of the morning, causing residents to flee.
“We woke up in the woods; others fled here to Macomia this morning,” a source in Macomia told Lusa on Saturday after taking in relatives of victims of the insurgents.
Residents suspect that the terrorist group is searching for supplies, due to the difficulties on the ground.
"Those who set up their fields early are harvesting food, and the terrorists might want to loot the village," said another source from Macomia.
In addition to Nkoé, residents of neighbouring Nguida and Nova Zambézia are also fleeing their villages, fearing possible attacks.
The gas-rich province of Cabo Delgado has been the target of extremist attacks for eight years, with the first attack recorded on 5 October 2017 in the district of Mocímboa da Praia.
The organisation ACLED (Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project) estimates that the Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado has recorded three violent incidents in the last two weeks, two involving Islamic State extremists, which left three people dead, bringing the death toll since 2017 to 6,518.
According to the latest report from ACLED, covering data from 23 March to 5 April, of the 2,345 violent incidents recorded since October 2017, when the armed insurgency began in Cabo Delgado, 2,174 involved elements associated with Islamic State Mozambique (EIM).
RYCE/MYAL // ADB.
Lusa
