12 killed in Mozambique attack

MAPUTO: Twelve people have been killed in a suspected Islamist militant attack in northern Mozambique, with thousands of villagers fleeing into neighbouring Tanzania, police sources said Sunday.

Hardline Islamists have launched several attacks in the majority -Muslim province during the last year, stoking unrest just as Maputo pushes ahead with oil and gas development in the region.

Early Friday, "there was an attack in Nangade district, where there are no security patrols. The attackers killed 12 people, mostly women and children," a police source in Cabo Delgado province, who asked not to be named, told AFP.

The attack took place in the village of Chicuaia Velha, just a few kilometres (miles) from Tanzania, forcing several thousand people to seek safety cross the border, police said. A local journalist said the villagers were hacked to death with machetes or died after the attackers torched their homes.

"The district of Nangade is far from the sea where the police have focussed their efforts, which allowed the assailants to enter and attack and then retreat," another police source said. "They use guerrilla tactics and attack several points simultaneously. It´s hard to control the situation," he said. It was the third such incident in the last month in Cabo Delgado, leaving a total of 20 dead.