More than 180 people, including foreign workers, have been trapped for three days in a hotel in a city in northern Mozambique that is being besieged by ISIL (ISIS) group fighters, according to workers and security forces.
After the attack in the city of Palma near an LNG (liquefied natural gas) site in the province of Cabo Delgado, several people were dead, the AFP news agency reported, citing witnesses and a rights group. Reuters news agency also reported the deaths of at least one civilian and the wounding of others on Saturday when their convoy was attacked while trying to escape.
ISIL-affiliated fighters began a raid on the coastal city Wednesday afternoon, forcing frightened residents to flee into the surrounding forest as LNG and government officials sought refuge at the Amarula Palma Hotel.
“Almost the entire city was destroyed. Lots of people are dead, ”said an LNG site employee on the phone on Friday evening after he was evacuated to Afungi.
He did not give details of the victims or their nationalities.
“When the locals fled into the bush, LNG company workers, including foreigners, took refuge at the Amarula Hotel, where they are waiting to be rescued,” he said, asking not to be named.
French oil giant Total is the main investor in the $ 20 billion project. Six other international companies, including ExxonMobil, are involved in the region.
“Bodies on the streets”
According to Human Rights Watch, the attackers are linked to a group known locally as al-Shabab that has no known direct link to the Somali armed group with a similar name.
“Several witnesses told Human Rights Watch that they saw bodies on the streets and residents on the run after al-Shabab fighters shot indiscriminately at people and buildings,” the rights group said in a statement Friday.
South African news website News24 reported that a South African national had died in the attack.
Another employee of a company contracted by Total said helicopters flew over the hotel on Friday to find “a corridor to rescue the approximately 180 people trapped in the hotel.”
“But many people stayed on the premises until dark while militants tried to advance towards the hotel,” he said.
In an unverified short video clip shared on social media, an unidentified man filmed the hotel lobby and showed several people hanging out on the terrace. With the hum of a helicopter in the background, he described the situation in Palma as “critical”.
“We don’t know if we will be saved,” he said, adding that the hotel is out of food but still has water.
On Friday afternoon, some people tried to escape in a vehicle convoy but were ambushed right outside the hotel, according to Lional Dyck, who heads the Dyck Advisory Group, a South African private security firm that works with the Mozambique government, two diplomats and the People’s Organizations inside.
Rescue efforts have been ongoing with at least 20 people flown to safety in helicopters from the ambush, Dyck said, adding his helicopters evacuated more than 20 people on Saturday.
The Mozambican government confirmed the attack on the city Thursday, saying soldiers had launched an offensive to evict the fighters from the city, the center of the huge gas project.
The new round of attacks began Wednesday after Total announced a gradual resumption of work on the LNG project, hampered by the ongoing uprising in the region.
Cabo Delgado province has been the target of a simmering armed campaign that nearly caused since 2017 700,000 people are fleeing their homes.
According to the US data collection agency Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED), at least 2,600 people were killed in the violence, half of them civilians.
Jasmine Opperman, senior researcher at ACLED, told Al Jazeera the recent attacks showed a level of sophistication not seen before in the region.
“This attack has been brewing for some time,” said Opperman.
“I foresee the uprising, as we have now seen in Palma, to continue. The sophistication and level of coordination tell me that [there] are experts in guerrilla warfare, train these fighters and are indirectly involved, ”added Operman.
“There is a U-turn, there is no quick fix – the uprising steers the momentum and there is simply no end in sight.”
