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Gunmen suspected of being jihadists beheaded at least 20 teenagers and men attending an initiation ceremony in northern Mozambique, AFP reported Wednesday.
On Monday, the mutilated bodies of at least five adults and 15 adolescents were found scattered in a forest in the Muidumbe district. Islamist insurgents operating in the region have attacked, devastated and burned several villages in the sector and in the past.
“The police were alerted by residents who found the bodies in the forest,” said an official from the neighboring Mueda district, who wished to remain anonymous.
“These are young people who have come to participate in an initiation ceremony, surrounded by older relatives,” he added, according to Agerpres.
Mozambican authorities have not yet confirmed the massacre.
The jihadists, who have sworn allegiance to the Islamic State group, have been active in the Cabo Delgado region for three years. They attack villages to spread terror and in an attempt to establish a caliphate.
In April, they also beheaded about 50 young people who refused to join them.
According to the US non-governmental organization Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), they killed at least 2,000 people and displaced more than 400,000 people in 2017.
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