Thread by @BBCAfrica

THREAD: The Islamic State group have claimed responsibility for an attack on Palma in northern Mozambique, this is how events unfolded.

24 March - Gunmen attack Palma in northern Mozambique. The town is close to a multi-billion dollar gas project led by French oil giant Total. Construction on it had stopped months before due to the violence, and it had just been announced that it would resume.

25 March - Mozambique’s defence ministry confirms that the attack was by Islamist militants who have been staging an insurgency in the region since 2017. They also said that casualties were unknown as the area is unreachable by telephone.

26 March - The fight for control of Palma enters a third day, as government forces continue to try and repel the militants. Human Rights Watch said witnesses saw "bodies on the streets and residents fleeing after the... fighters fired indiscriminately at people and buildings”.

Hundreds of people fled the fighting, running into forests, mangroves or nearby villages. About 180 foreign and local gas workers took refuge in the Amarula Palma hotel.

27 March - Islamist militants ambush a convoy attempting to rescue people from the Amarula Palma hotel. The defence ministry later confirmed seven people had died trying to escape the hotel siege.

28 March - Government say ‘dozens’ have died in the fighting, but the Centre for Democracy and Development in Maputo, Mozambique's capital city, says it is more likely the death toll is in the hundreds.

29 March - The Islamic State group claims responsibility for the attack on Palma, claiming it now has ‘full control’ of the town, something denied by the Mozambican government.

The violence stems from an Islamist insurgency which started in 2017. In December 2020 we spoke to some Mozambican experts about what has caused the conflict.

bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-…