At least 11 Christians died in an attack on Friday 15 September, in northern Mozambique.
The massacre took place in Naquitengue, a village in Cabo Delgado located near Mocimboa da Praia, a region suffering from Islamist insurgency since in 2017.
According to reports received by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), the attack was claimed by the local branch of the Islamic State, which said it had killed 11 Christians, but the actual number of fatalities may be higher.
Witnesses say that terrorists arrived in Naquitengue in the early afternoon and summoned the entire population. They then proceeded to separate Christians from Muslims, apparently based on their names and ethnicity.
A Brazilian missionary who works in the region said that the terrorists then opened fire on the Christians.
Friar Boaventura, of the Poor of Jesus Christ brothers, said that this is not the first time that terrorists separate Christians for killing. The attack, he says, took place at a time when many people were beginning to return to their communities, following a lull in the conflict, and has led to an increase in “tension and insecurity”.
“We must pray for our brothers who are in so much pain”, he told ACN.
In a recent message to participants in World Youth Day, in Lisbon, local Bishop António Juliasse asked that Christians not forget Cabo Delgado and neighbouring Niassa.
“There is a war in Cabo Delgado that is not being discussed. We have already counted around one million internally displaced, and close to five thousand dead.”
When the insurgency in Cabo Delgado first began, in 2017, it was not clear who was responsible, and Christians were not directly targeted. However, it soon became evident that Muslim fundamentalists were behind the violence, and more recently Christians have been intentionally killed.
In September 2022 an Italian nun was murdered during an attack on her mission.
The former Portuguese colony of Mozambique is mostly Christian, though Muslims form a majority in the north.
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