The skirmishes began around 5am (4am in Lisbon), after information circulated that a local businessman had been killed by the military during a patrolling mission on Monday night, a source told Lusa. from Macomia.
"The population has interrupted traffic on the roads, they don't want anyone, they have set up barricades on the road and burned tires and other objects," declared the source, adding that the skirmishes left at least three people dead.
Contacted by Lusa, the Police of the Republic of Mozambique (PRM) Cabo Delgado admitted that the episodes had occurred, but did not confirm the deaths.
"It is confirmed that there was a change in order in the early hours (of the day), but the situation was already under control. We still have no data produced, colleagues were still on the ground working", declared Aniceto Magome, spokesperson for PRM in Cabo Delgado, promising more details in the coming hours.
According to local sources, the people blocked access to the district headquarters town of Macomia, via the district of Muidumbe, as well as the road that gives access to the administrative post of Mucojo, 40 kilometers from the district headquarters.
A source close to the trader who lost his life on Monday said the man was killed after government forces became suspicious of his behavior during the patrol operation.
"The military were on patrol, they surrounded a suspicious person's house and, when he wanted to flee, they shot him. He was doing business in Macomia, selling used clothes, cosmetics, telephones and ready-to-eat products at the Mucojo intersection", declared the source.
Since October 2017, Cabo Delgado has faced an armed rebellion with attacks claimed by movements associated with the extremist group Islamic State.
The last major attack took place on May 10 and 11, on the district headquarters of Macomia, with around a hundred insurgents looting the town, causing several deaths and heavy fighting with the Mozambique Defense and Security Forces.
The population of other districts of the province have reported the movement of these groups of insurgents, who cause panic as they pass, in the forests, but without any record of clashes, which happens at a time when peasants are trying to carry out harvesting work in the fields of cultivation.
The President of Mozambique stated on June 16 that the action of the various defense forces made it possible to eliminate "practically all" the bases of terrorist groups operating in Cabo Delgado, which are now limited to "walking around in the bush".
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