Disturbing new footage shows the aftermath of a bloody attack by ISIS terrorists in the African country of Mozambique last month.
A photo published by Sky News Monday shows fires in the strategic northern city of Palma. Others show sheets and other items arranged on the ground to spell “HELP” and “SOS” so they can be seen by rescue helicopters.
Others, however, show overturned and damaged cars appearing to have been ambushed while their occupants made desperate escape attempts.
The BBC reported Monday, citing the Mozambican military, that Palma had been recaptured and a “significant” number of terrorists had been murdered.
ISIS has claimed responsibility for the March 24 attack, according to extremist monitoring group SITE. Their claim claimed that the Islamic State’s Central Africa province controlled Palmas banks, government buildings, factories and barracks, and that more than 55 people, including Mozambican army troops, Christians and foreigners, were killed.
Meanwhile, the director of the Dyck Advisory Group, a private military company contracted by the Mozambican police to help fight the rebels, described “fighting in the streets, in bags in the city.”
“My guys are on the air and they’ve hired several small groups and they’ve hired a pretty large group,” Dyck told the Associated Press last week. “They have fought to rescue some injured police officers. … We also rescued many people who were incarcerated, 220 people at last count. “
Dyck added that his hunters described seeing “truck drivers bringing rations to Palma. Their bodies were by the trucks. Their heads were off. “
Survivors have told how heavily armed terrorists stormed through the cities wearing striking uniforms with red scarves around their heads.
“I ran to save my life … they came from every street,” survivor Luisa Jose, 52, told Reuters. “I saw them with bazookas.”
A city of about 70,000 located less than 20 miles from the border with Tanzania, Palma is near an oil and natural gas production site operated by the French energy company Total. Sky News reported that the facility has been turned over to the military, while Total personnel have been evacuated from the area.
Cabo Delgado, the province where Palma is located, has been the focal point of the Islamist uprising since 2017, and observers fear the latest attack is a sign of the terrorists’ ambition to spread their uprising across the country.