Around 1,400 people who fled armed attacks by rebel groups in the district of Namuno, in the Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado, and are refugees in the district of Nipepe, in Niassa, are starving and in need of emergency aid, several local sources told VOA on Monday 21st.

The group is part of the population that fled the attacks at the end of October in the district of Namuno, the thirteenth district of Cabo Delgado to be hit by the armed insurgency, linked to the Islamic State, and is sheltering in precarious tents and classrooms and without access to food support in Niassa.

In all, around 284 families have taken refuge in the district of Nipepe, in Niassa, after fleeing from the neighboring district of Namuno (Cabo Delgado), in the attack that killed the local leader and his wife by beheading, an incident that caused panic in several villages and followed several other attacks.

"We lack everything. One person fainted on Sunday the 20th because he had no food," Faruk Abibo, a displaced person in Nipepe, told VOA, saying that the government authorities were preparing an intervention.

Another displaced person said that a humanitarian organization and some government entities had carried out a survey of the needs of the displaced, but no action had been taken so far, adding that many receive "plates of food from the locals".

The local government is carrying out a survey to minimize what it calls the "multiform needs" of the displaced, said Dinis Vilankulo, governor of Niassa province, quoted by state-owned Televisão de Moçambique.

"Many only managed to escape with their clothes on," he added, reiterating that the displaced need emergency support.

New Attacks

An armed group attacked a military column in Nangade on Sunday, 20, forcing a redeployment of the armed forces of Tanzania, which coordinates the military operations of SAMIN (Military Mission of the Southern African Development Community) in Cabo Delgado.

After a strong and long confrontation, the terrorist group captured the military vehicles in which the foreign soldiers were travelling and destroyed other military trucks, according to reports to VOA from sources close to the incident and various images circulated on social networks.

The local police and SAMIN have not yet commented publicly on the incident.

In another raid, on the night of Thursday 17th, the armed group once again attacked the village of Nguida, about 20 kilometers from the Macomia district headquarters, forcing the people who were still resisting the insecurity to flee

The incident, reliable sources told VOA, also forced the Defense and Security Forces to abandon the only military position in that village after a "strong confrontation", and the propaganda channels of the Islamic State, which claimed the attack, said that five soldiers died and others were wounded in the incident.

The province of Cabo Delgado has been facing an armed insurgency promoted by a rebel group for five years, with some attacks claimed by the extremist group Islamic State, which have already caused a million displaced people, according to the UNHCR, and around 4,000 deaths.