Maria Laura Avignolo
03/29/2021 1:38 PM
Clarín.com
World
Updated 03/29/2021 2:08 PM
Northern
Mozambique
, the former Portuguese African colony,
in the hands of
ISIS
.
At least 60 foreigners, including British, French, Irish, New Zealanders and South Africans and Portuguese, are
dead, wounded or missing
in the northeast of the country, following a spectacular terrorist operation.
Security sources estimate that the deaths would amount to
2,000
between civilians and military.
Seven foreigners were executed, while trying to flee from a hotel where they had taken refuge in
the city of Palma
, in the province of Cabo Delgado, when hundreds of ISIS militants launched an offensive on Wednesday in this city of 75,000 inhabitants, which has not yet completed five days later.
There are still people locked in the hotel without rescuing.
It is unknown if they are alive or dead because communications
are cut off.
v 1.5
Mozambique
Infographic:
Clarín
France and South Africa are analyzing sending special forces to save those still hiding there.
They all worked in Afungi, on a liquefied gas platform owned by the French company Total, which had just reopened, believing that the Islamist insurgency had withdrawn.
Argentines in Cabo Delgado
Until now, no Argentines or Latin Americans have been identified among the victims, amid enormous confusion and panic.
There is an Argentine embassy in Maputo, headed by the charge d'affaires Andres Venta Frida.
Only 4 Argentines live in the province of Cabo Delgado but far from Palma and the majority work in humanitarian organizations.
In a statement on Telegram, the Islamic State announced on Monday "having taken control of the city of Palma."
The group declared "having targeted military installations and government headquarters."
He announced "the takeover of the city and the death of dozens of Mozambican army soldiers and Christians, including citizens of the Crusader States."
How was the attack
The Islamist attack began on Wednesday from three sides on Palma, the mainly Muslim city and in the area of the Cabo Delgado province, where the civil war previously took place.
they attacked businesses, banks and military installations.
The foreign contractors took refuge in the
Amarula Palma Lodge hotel
, where those who worked at the gas plant and the contractors lived.
Satellite image of the hotel complex in the city of Palma.
Photo: AP
There were many foreigners in Palma because more accommodation was being organized at the Total plant due to the reestablishment of gas activities,
a billion dollar business
for the country, which is rich in oil and mineral resources, and attracts all multinational companies.
Many security companies hired by Total and its subcontractors operate in the area and tried to save the workers.
The first rescue was launched by
South African helicopters
from Dyck Advisory Group, with mercenaries from that country, who were in charge of the security of the plant and the area, at the request of the Mozambican government.
But the ISIS fighters shot at them and the operation was cut short due to lack of logistics and ammunition.
Only
25 people
managed to flee.
The remaining refugees were left at the mercy of ISIS and their fate.
Most of the foreigners hoped to be
rescued by boats
from the platform but could not get close to the beach due to the fire of the jihadists.
People wait to be evacuated by boats in Palma.
Photo: EFE
"They were in a panic that they wouldn't survive another night. There was no one coming looking for them," said Johann Anderson, who was communicating with the group from the Total site.
Refugees at the hotel
In desperation, without weapons, without more ammunition, and without hope,
a convoy of cars
was organized
from the hotel to flee.
ISIS was waiting for them and shot the drivers.
Only seven of the 17 vehicles managed to escape.
Of the other 60 to 100 people
their fate is unknown
.
"It is not known if they are dead, have been kidnapped or have hidden in the jungle," admitted a security source from Maputo. "
"Seven people were killed trying to escape the site to the hotel," said Omar Saranga, a defense department spokesman from Maputo.
The military and police were overwhelmed by the jihadists.
Human Right Watch assured that witnesses describe "
bodies in the streets
and residents fleeing while the combatants shoot indiscriminately at people and buildings."
A child plays in the port near Pemba, where boats with people evacuated from Palma are waiting.
Photo: AFP
The Mozambican military was
completely overwhelmed
and could not deal with its wounded and dead.
Palma was destroyed and devastated by the attack.
The convoy
As in those dramatic situations, a plan was organized to get out of the hotel, in a convoy.
Some 60 to 100 people chose to get into 17 vehicles before dark on Friday.
About
100 stayed
at the hotel.
The ISIS fighters shot at the cars as soon as they got out, especially at the drivers.
Only seven made it through the fire barrier and there were
foreigners and Mozambicans
among them
.
"After that, they each got by on their own," said Anderson, 60.
Only seven vehicles crossed the insurgents, who were already in a position to fire on the drivers.
Several occupants are known to have died.
The fate of those who were traveling in the other cars and those who stayed at the shelter is unknown.
A British contractor was killed while trying to flee an attack by Islamist militants.
Adrian Neil, a 40-year-old South African, suffered the same fate.
It was related by his mother, Meryl Knox from Cape Town.
His brother and stepfather survived and are traveling to South Africa with the body.
They were building facilities for the workers at the gas plant.
Adrian led the convoy to escape.
Heroes of the sea
Some foreigners managed to flee during the night
from the hotel to the beach,
where they were rescued by local boats, which took them to Pemba.
A city 250 kilometers from Palma, on Sunday afternoon.
But there were no police or army there to protect them.
Other survivors managed to escape into the jungle, which borders the sea, to neighboring plantations and towns.
There, extraordinary stories of courage and heroism emerged from the local population, who organized the rescue by sea regardless of nationality.
The fishing port of Pemba, Mozambique.
Photo: AFP
Fishing boats, yachts, tour boats, motorboats were used overloaded to escape from hell.
It was local companies, merchants, fishermen who organized this rescue, helping foreigners and locals hidden in the jungle.
The city of Palma and the beach is
the image of hell
.
The bodies are where they fell, in the street, at the door of the houses.
Many
beheaded
, others killed with machetes.
There are men, women and children killed, after the ISIS operation went house to house.
How were they saved
Among those rescued is
Nick Alexander,
a British-South African national and former police officer, who shot dead two militants and spent two nights with his colleagues, crawling through bushes in the jungle before his rescue on Sunday.
Alexander saw a military tank stolen by the jihadists with an AKA 47 on the roof.
He ran towards him, grabbed the gun, killed two combatants and took refuge in the jungle, from where he was rescued.
The former police officer was in the back of the convoy, which was fired on Friday night as they fled the hotel complex.
Alexander, a contractor who builds camps for staff working at the $ 20 billion gas site, contacted his 29-year-old daughter Jayde in Johannesburg on Sunday.
"He saw the commotion with the ambush and came out," Jayde said.
“There was a government vehicle with an AK47 inside.
So he went in, took it, and shot dead two of al-Shabaab, the jihadist militants.
He and two others from the car ran to hide in the bushes with the gun.
They literally crawled through the bushes until they were rescued, "said her daughter.
Fishermen helped people to flee.
Photo: AFP
Phil Mawer, a catering service provider from Somerset, Great Britain, is
still missing.
At least 60 expatriates remain missing in the city, 10 kilometers from Africa's largest gas project, where battles continue between government forces and fighters linked to the Islamic State.
Palm in the hands of jihadists
The first expatriate deaths, since the insurgency began four years ago in northern Mozambique, have alarmed Western governments and put pressure on
President Filipi Nyusi.
South Africa is debating whether to intervene militarily as in France, which has special forces at its bases in Djibouti and Mali.
French oil giant Total said it was suspending operations at the site, the largest single investment in Africa, which had offered hope to one of the
world's poorest
nations
.
Security analysts had predicted an attack on Palma.
The city had long been isolated by militants, leaving its population of 75,000 and a large immigrant community vulnerable.
The jihadist insurgency
Islamist insurgents in Mozambique have been active in the Cabo Delgado province
since 2017,
but the attacks have become more brutal since last year.
These three years of insurgency, led by
unemployed
and
hopeless young Muslims
, has cost 2,600 lives and displaced 670,000 people, according to the UN.
The jihadists finance themselves by trafficking in rubies and precious woods in a province where 58 percent are Muslim and highly illiterate.
They reject the presence of French and American companies in the area.
But this has been his most spectacular action, which will make Mozambique's multinational investments flee.
The deaths and unknown destinations of dozens of expatriates hired for the largest individual investment in Africa may finally force the Mozambican president to admit that the insurgency in the far north of his country
is out of control
.
Paris, correspondent
ap
Look also
Desperate flight of 200 Europeans trapped in a city captured by jihadists in Mozambique
The NGO Save The Children denounced that 11-year-old children are being beheaded in northern Mozambique