An armed group linked to the Islamic State attacked on Thursday, 23, the village Nkoe, in Macomia, which was hosting hundreds of displaced people who fled recent attacks in Ancuabe, the southern district of the Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado, which has been the new target of the insurgents' attacks.

Sources heard by VOA on the scene indicated that the village was overrun with gunfire around 6:00 am local time, when the group set fire to 12 huts, leaving hundreds of displaced people, who had been sheltered there, in despair.

The displaced had fled to Nkoe village after the attacks on Ancuabe district, which began on June 5.

"It was sudden, first they came in shooting and the population fled into the woods, and now that we are talking they are burning houses," said one survivor, while trying to find ways out of the village.

Some displaced people from Ancuabe have reportedly taken refuge in Macomia, the nearest district that has been declared safe by the authorities, following the deactivation of a feared terrorist base and several cells of the group at the local level.

By late afternoon, no data on human casualties were yet known, but a military source assured VOA that an intervention by the Defense and Security Forces and the militiamen had driven out the attackers, locally known as al-Shaabab.

It is known, however, that by early afternoon several people were seen carrying bundles towards Pemba, the capital of Cabo Delgado, in a situation that deepens the crisis of the new wave of displaced people.

"People are desperate. They no longer know where to flee to," another Macomia resident told VOA, stressing that "I didn't understand when people left Ancuabe for Macomia, knowing that this district is also the target of recent attacks."

The governor of Cabo Delgado, Valige Tauabo, who was speaking at the provincial government session on Wednesday, 22, acknowledged growing instability in some districts that were considered safe.

"In Ancuabe district on June 5, 2022, when terrorists assaulted that village (Nanduli) forcing the population to take refuge, dragging the neighboring populations in search of safer places," said Valige Tauabo, advancing that the situation has caused the new wave of displaced people in recent weeks.

The leader also said that due to the onslaught and, "due to the pursuit of the terrorists by the Defense and Security forces, it was necessary to accentuate the control of the circulation of people and vehicles on the roads that cross the district of Ancuabe, a fact that generated some hours of paralysis of circulation and the use of columns with military protection" on June 12.

The insurgent group has been extending its string of attacks, especially in the southern districts of Cabo Delgado.

Just this month they arrived in Ancuabe, Chiúre and Mecufi, the latter being close to the capital of Cabo Delgado, Pemba.