REIGN OF TERROR

At Least 50 People Reportedly Beheaded by Islamic Extremists in Mozambique

The recent killings are the latest development in a three-year insurgency in the province of Cabo Delgado, which the UN says has displaced at least 355,000 people from their homes.

Islamic extremists in Mozambique have reportedly beheaded at least 50 people in the last two weeks, per the Associated Press. Although the country’s government has yet to confirm the killings in the province of Cabo Delgado, local news have reported the beheadings and Luiz Fernando Lisboad, a priest in the region’s capital city, said he had confirmed the reports with a number of sources, though he said it was impossible to pinpoint the exact number killed. The killings are an escalation of an ongoing three-year insurgency in the Cabo Delgado province stemming from a group of jaded, unemployed young Mozambican men who found solace in radical Muslim ideology, according to Yussuf Adam, a professor at Universidade Eduardo Monlane, the country’s oldest and largest university, who has followed the crisis for years. The resulting violence in Cabo Delgado has displaced 355,000 people, according to UN estimates, and the extremist group, reported to number 3,000 strong, is reported to have killed 2,200 people since gaining power in the region.