Terrorists linked to the Islamic State beheaded two teenagers who were working in a cultivation field in the village Muaja, in Ancuabe district, causing the population to flee in the neighboring district of Montepuez, several local sources told VOA on Tuesday, 19.

The incident with the two teenagers was recorded on Wednesday of last week, the 13th, but because the affected village is close to Nanhupo and Namanhumbir, a mining area in Montepuez with a strict security cordon, it also forced the population of those two areas to flee from southern Cabo Delgado.

"After killing the teenagers, the al-shaabab (the name by which the terrorists are known) handed the heads in a plastic to a woman to take back to the village," recounted a local resident now displaced in Montepuez.

"That situation led many people from the village and neighboring villages to flee to the Montepuez district headquarters," the same source added.

The group, said another local source, caused panic in Nanhupo and Namanhumbir, not far from the area explored by the Montepuez Ruby Mining company, one of the biggest revenue contributors to the state coffers and which announced in June a new all-time record, of $96 million, achieved at the ruby auction, held in Thailand.

"People are fleeing because of fear," another local source said, suggesting that the beheading was a warning of more dramatic episodes.

The new population escapes in the southern districts of Cabo Delgado have increased at an accelerated rate in recent months, since the armed group has invested in a new string of attacks on those districts.

In June alone, 32,000 people fled the attacks, according to data from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and at least 21,000 of them left Ancuabe.

The local administrator, Oliveira Amimo, said that most people fleeing the new attacks by terrorist groups have sought shelter in the district of Erati in neighboring Nampula province.

"Recently at least 21,000 people fled the new wave of terrorist attacks to the Erati district in Nampula," Oliveira Amimo specified.

VOA contacted the Republic of Mozambique Police (PRM) for comment, but without success.

It should be noted that some mining companies that had paralyzed their operations due to increased insecurity, including in Montepuez, have resumed operations and boosted the economy of Cabo Delgado province, now in the grip of the humanitarian crisis.