PALMA, KOMPAS.com – Dozens of people died in the attack carried out by a group of militia on Palma, a city of the northern region Mozambique.
Omar Saranga, a spokesman for the defense ministry, said the latest seven people were shot dead while trying to get out of the hotel.
Hundreds of other people, both local and foreign nationals, have reportedly survived.
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Since Wednesday (24/3/2021), the city of Palma has been attacked by a militia group that is said to be associated with ISIS.
Eyewitnesses said the beach was filled corpse headless as he hides while waiting for the ship to be rescued.
The maritime traffic tracking website reported that many ships were passing around Palma to the Port of Pemba.
The reason is that many locals are trying to flee by boarding cargo ships, passenger ships, to tugboats.
What is known about the rescue?
One of the contractors revealed that residents who had fled were hiding on the beach since Friday (26/3/2021).
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They waited overnight until the ship that rescued them arrived the next day, or Saturday (27/3/2021).
The contractor said that more rescue operations were taking place where the ship would return on Sunday (28/3/2021).
Reported BBC Monday (29/3/2021), the operation was coordinated by civilians working in Palma.
“They are the heroes of the whole operation. Until late at night, they coordinated to reach the refugees and bring them to safety,” explained the contractor.
Sources who know about the operation to AFP said the ship containing 1,400 people docked at the port of Pemba, 250 km south of Palma.
Humanitarian organizations said the smaller ship would arrive at least Monday morning local time.
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What’s the situation like in Palma?
The actual death toll in Palma, a city of 75,000 in Cabo Delgado province, remains unknown.
Colonel Lionel Dyke explained that the beaches to a number of points in the city were filled a headless corpse as well as those that are still intact.
Colonel Dyke is the owner of the private company Dyck Advisory Group, which coordinates with the Mozambique police there.
The militia group is said to have controlled the entire city, the truth of which has not been verified given the total loss of communication.
When the group attacked on Wednesday, they targeted shops, banks and military barracks.
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The city is close to the location of a natural gas drilling project managed by a French company, Total.
More than 100 residents and workers fled to Hotel Amarula Palma. Some tried to escape.
At least 20 people were reported to have survived by helicopter. However, not infrequently they were ambushed when leaving the hotel.
The northern region of Mozambique has been the epicenter of an insurgency that lasted about four years.
ISIS-affiliated militias are suspected of being the mastermind behind the conflict in Muslim-dominated Cabo Delgado.
The terrorist attack killed more than 2,500 people and left another 700,000 homeless.
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