The Minister of Interior, Arsénia Massingue, says that despite attrition attacks by jihadists, the forces of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) mission in Cabo Delgado, remain motivated and determined to fight terrorism in that province.

However, with the recent onslaughts by insurgents, analysts warn that attacks to open new fronts and attrition will continue.

Massingue is in Cabo Delgado, where he has already met with officials from the SADC mission, which is helping Mozambican troops in the fight against terrorism.

"We have found a force that is motivated to work and concerned about restoring peace in our country, and we encourage their work," she stressed.

Political analyst Raúl Domingos says that last week's attack on Ancuabe was intended to demoralize the forces fighting terrorism in Cabo Delgado.

For this political analyst, an effective fight against terrorism is fundamentally about eliminating the internal force that cooperates with jihadism, emphasizing that "only by being able to eliminate this force can we eventually put an end to a large part of terrorist actions.

The former Renamo leader adds that "as long as we have young Mozambicans who cooperate with international terrorism, we will manage these kinds of surprise actions, ambushes, opening new fronts, attacks of attrition.

For his part, political analyst Fernando Lima does not believe that there was, at least at the military level, a feeling that the situation in Cabo Delgado was suddenly going to improve, even from a strictly operational point of view.

He says that this is what is happening "because the big attacks, namely the occupation of towns and villages, have stopped, but the sporadic attacks continue in smaller groups, with very specific objectives, to maintain a campaign of terror in the communities.

Lima says, on the other hand, that the fact that there are international troops in Mozambique, who have helped the country destroy the large jihadist bases and concentrations, does not prevent small groups of terrorists from continuing to operate.

In light of this, Raúl Domingos reiterates his position that it is necessary to pay attention to the internal force, stressing that "I have heard several times the President of the Republic, Filipe Nyusi, talking about names of Mozambicans who are in charge of the insurgents, they are known people who abandoned their homes and families to join the terrorists.

Borges Namirre says, for his part, that he was not surprised by the recent attack on Ancuabe, considering the nature of the conflict in Cabo Delgado, and especially the way the response of the foreign force intervention was given, which forced the insurgents to disperse.

"It seems that the goal was to get the terrorists away from the gas zone, and to me, that's not necessarily the most appropriate response, because having been driven away from Palma and Mocímboa da Praia, the terrorists had to take refuge somewhere," Namirre concludes.

Recent attacks point to new fronts opened by insurgents in Cabo Delgado.