SADC troops kill insurgents’ religious leader Sheikh Njile North, 18 fighters
The military mission of the Southern African Development Community in Mozambique (SAMIM) said Saturday it killed the insurgent’s religious leader in Cabo Delgado.
The Cabo Delgado—which is the terrorism’s epicentre in Mozambique—has seen the displacement of over 800,000 people and the threatening billions of gas projects by multinationals in the region.
Mozambique has been battling terrorists calling themselves Al-Shabaab, whom the US has designated as Islamic State affiliates.
According to the SAMIM’s statement, Sheikh Njile North who orchestrated the first attack on Mocímboa da Praia in October 2017, played a leading role in recruiting and indoctrinating terrorists’ personnel.
The Islamic State group took control of most of the five districts in Cabo Delgado in four years since 2017.
“He was leader of the religious sect of Al Sunnah wa Jama’ah”.
“Sheikh Njile North was killed last week along with 18 other insurgents and had an herbalist where he called on the population to rise up”, the SAMIM statement added.
The sheikh with ID name Rajab Awadhi Ndanjile was born in Litinginya village, Nangade district in Cabo Delgado.
Meanwhile, an armed group linked to the Islamic State attacked Saturday afternoon Namatili village in Mueda district in Cabo Delgado province without causing fatalities.
The group invaded the village on motorbikes, using machine guns of various calibres, causing widespread panic and the population fled into the woods, VOA Radio quoted eyewitnesses adding the armed group had not burned houses, they were just looking for food.
On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said an Islamic State (ISIS) linked armed group in northern Mozambique was kidnapping boys and using them to fight government forces in violation of the international prohibition on the use of child soldiers.
The armed group, known locally as Al-Shabaab, has abducted hundreds of boys, some as young as 12, trained them in bases across Cabo Delgado province, and forced them to fight alongside adults against government forces, HRW added.
