Disturbing new images show the aftermath of a bloody attack by ISIS terrorists in the African country of Mozambique last month.
One photo, published by Sky News on Monday, shows fires burning in the strategic city of Palma. Others show sheets and other items arranged on the ground to spell ‘HELP’ and ‘SOS’ so they can be seen by rescue helicopters.
Still, others show overturned and damaged cars that were apparently trapped while their occupants made desperate escape attempts.
The BBC reported on Monday, citing the Mozambican army, that Palma had been recaptured and that a “significant” number of terrorists had been killed.
ISIS claimed responsibility for the March 24 attack, according to the SITE extremist monitoring group. Their claim claims that the Islamic State of Central Africa controls Palmas’ banks, government offices, factories and army barracks, and that more than 55 people, including Mozambican army troops, Christians and foreigners, have been killed.
Meanwhile, the director of the Dyck Advisory Group, a private military company contracted by Mozambican police to help fight the rebels, described ‘fighting in the streets, in pockets across the city’.
“My guys are in the air and they involved some small groups and they involved a fairly large group,” Dyck told the Associated Press last week. ‘They have called for the fight to recover some wounded policemen. … We also rescued many people who were trapped, 220 people eventually counted. ‘
Dyck added that his fighters described how ‘drivers of trucks bring rations to Palma. Their bodies were at the trucks. Their heads were down. ”
Survivors recounted how heavily armed terrorists stormed through the villages wearing distinctive uniforms with red scarves around their heads.
“I ran to save my life … they came from every street,” Luisa Jose, 52, a survivor, told Reuters. “I saw them with bazookas.”
Palma, a city of about 70,000 less than 20 km from the border with Tanzania, is located near an oil and natural gas production site operated by the French energy company Total. Sky News reported that the facility was handed over to the military, while Total staff were evacuated from the area.
Cabo Delgado, the province where Palma is located, has been the focus of the Islamic uprising since 2017, and observers fear that the latest attack is a sign of the terrorists’ ambition to spread their uprising throughout the country.