Mozambique Defence and Security Forces (FDS) killed 12 insurgents in Cabo Delgado province, the country’s newly appointed Defence Minister said on Friday.

Mr Cristóvão Chume, a former head of the Mozambican army, disclosed this during the closing ceremony of a military course in Maputo. He said that several weapons were recovered from the insurgents. Mr Chume said:

This morning I was informed that in Nangade, our forces met with the enemy, they killed 12 insurgents, wounded several others and recovered some weapons.

According to Mr Chume the joint forces, made up of the FDS and the contingents of the Southern African Development Community Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM) and the Rwanda army are pursuing the insurgents.

Last month, the Extraordinary Summit of the Organ Troika of the Heads of State and Government of SADC plus Mozambique held in South Africa approved the SAMIM extension. SAMIM was deployed in July and was supposed to last 90 days.

Mr Chume also acknowledged that there were sporadic attacks in villages across the oil-rich Cabo Delgado province.

Mozambique has been fighting an insurgency in Cabo Delgado Province since 2017 and over 3 000 people have died in the violence while more than 800 000 people have been displaced.

More: Reuters.