Mozambican army rescues 280 women, children from Naparama paramilitaries
Victims were being trained to be enlisted into paramilitary group, according to army officials
Mozambican Army
LILONGWE, Malawi
The Mozambican army says it has rescued at least 280 women and children who were kidnapped by Naparama paramilitaries in northern and central provinces of the southeastern African nation.
Brig. Gen. Bernado Ntchokomola, who reportedly led the rescue operation, told reporters in a news conference that the victims were held captive for more than two weeks at a former guerrilla base in the Zambezia province.
“The victims were being trained by the kidnappers ready to be enlisted in the paramilitary group. And the women were constantly raped by the kidnappers while their children and husbands helplessly watched,” said Ntchokomola.
He said the rescued victims are now being brought back to their communities in what he called “an environment characterized by fear which these criminals have created.”
The Naparama is a militant group that emerged during the country’s 16-year-old civil war of 1977 to 1992.
According to army officials, members of the group undergo initiation rites designed to give them claimed “supernatural protection.”
In recent months, police in the country have reported attacks by the group in various areas of the central and northern provinces of the country.
