Disturbing new images show the consequences of a bloody attack by ISIS terrorists in the African country of Mozambique last month.
A photo, published by Sky News Monday, shows fires burning in the strategic city of Palma, in the north of the country. Others show sheets and other items arranged on the floor to spell “HELP” and “SOS” so that they can be seen by rescue helicopters.
Still, others show overturned and damaged cars that appear to have been ambushed while their occupants made desperate escape attempts.
The BBC reported Monday, citing the Mozambican army, that Palma has been recaptured and that a “significant” number of terrorists have been killed.
ISIS took responsibility for the March 24 attack, according to the extremist monitoring group SITE. The complaint alleged that the Islamic State’s Central African Province controlled the Palmas army banks, government offices, factories and barracks and that more than 55 people, including Mozambican army troops, Christians and foreigners were killed.
Meanwhile, the director of the Dyck Advisory Group, a private military company hired by the Mozambican police to help fight the rebels, described “street fighting, in pockets around the city”.
“My guys are on the air and have engaged in several small groups and a very large group,” Dyck told the Associated Press last week. “They joined the fight to rescue some injured policemen. … We also rescued many people who were arrested, 220 people at the last count ”.
Dyck added that his fighters described seeing “truck drivers bringing rations to Palma. Their bodies were close to the trucks. Their heads fell. “
Survivors reported seeing heavily armed terrorists invading cities with characteristic uniforms with red scarves over their heads.
“I was running for my life … they came from all over the streets,” survivor Luisa Jose, 52, told Reuters. “I saw them with bazookas.”
Palma, a city of about 70,000 inhabitants less than 20 miles from the border with Tanzania, is located close to an oil and natural gas production unit operated by the French energy company Total. Sky News reported that the facility was handed over to the military, while Total personnel were evacuated from the area.
Cabo Delgado, the province where Palma is located, has been the focal point of the Islamic insurgency since 2017, and observers fear that the latest attack is a sign of the terrorists’ ambition to spread their insurgency across the country.