Tanzania arrests 104 suspected militants

DAR ES SALAAM: Tanzanian police have arrested 104 suspected militants planning to establish bases in neighbouring Mozambique, where scores of people have been killed in Islamist attacks over the last year, a senior official said on Saturday. Forty attacks have been carried out since October 2017 in Mozambique´s Cabo Delgado province, an area near the Tanzanian border close to where companies are developing one of the biggest natural gas finds in a decade. More than 100 people have been killed, often by decapitation. Tanzania´s Inspector General of Police Simon Sirro said on Saturday security forces had launched operations over the last few months against “criminals” in eastern and southern areas, but that some of them had managed to flee. “During that operation, some criminals were arrested and some died, and a few escaped. Those who escaped are the ones trying to cross the border to Mozambique to establish a base,” he told a news conference. “After questioning them, they said they were going there to join radical camps,” Sirro added. Earlier this month, Mozambique put 189 people, including foreigners, on trial on accusations of involvement in Islamist attacks in Cabo Delgado.