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‘SA private military contractors’ and Mozambican airforce conduct major air attacks on Islamist extremists
The attacks are the latest attempt by Maputo to defeat the insurgency which has been gaining ground daily in the country’s northern-most Cabo Delgado province.
Light helicopter gunships strafed a base of the Ahlu Sunnah wa Jamaa (ASWJ) jihadists in Mozambique’s Muede area on Wednesday and then attacked their bases in Mbau in the Awassi district and in Muidumbe on Thursday, according to security sources.
They said the attacks did not include ground forces although these might follow later. They did not know if the attacks had been successful and what casualties had been inflicted on the insurgents, who have recently intensified their attacks in the province, taking major towns, raising the flag of the Islamic State (IS) and winning over locals by distributing looted goods and money.
The precise identity of the private soldiers who participated in this week’s attacks is not completely clear. In his newsletter on Thursday, Joseph Hanlon, a usually reliable commentator on Mozambique, published a photograph which is being widely circulated on social media, of one of the helicopter gunships supposedly used in the attack. It shows someone operating what military sources have said is a 20mm cannon mounted in the door of the aircraft.
Hanlon identified the crew of the “South African-registered” gunship as members of the Russian private military company Wagner which reportedly entered Mozambique in November under a contract with the Mozambican government to help it defeat the insurgents.
https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-04-09-sa-private-military-contractors-and-mozambican-airforce-conduct-major-air-attacks-on-islamist-extremists/amp/
The attacks are the latest attempt by Maputo to defeat the insurgency which has been gaining ground daily in the country’s northern-most Cabo Delgado province.
Light helicopter gunships strafed a base of the Ahlu Sunnah wa Jamaa (ASWJ) jihadists in Mozambique’s Muede area on Wednesday and then attacked their bases in Mbau in the Awassi district and in Muidumbe on Thursday, according to security sources.
They said the attacks did not include ground forces although these might follow later. They did not know if the attacks had been successful and what casualties had been inflicted on the insurgents, who have recently intensified their attacks in the province, taking major towns, raising the flag of the Islamic State (IS) and winning over locals by distributing looted goods and money.
The precise identity of the private soldiers who participated in this week’s attacks is not completely clear. In his newsletter on Thursday, Joseph Hanlon, a usually reliable commentator on Mozambique, published a photograph which is being widely circulated on social media, of one of the helicopter gunships supposedly used in the attack. It shows someone operating what military sources have said is a 20mm cannon mounted in the door of the aircraft.
Hanlon identified the crew of the “South African-registered” gunship as members of the Russian private military company Wagner which reportedly entered Mozambique in November under a contract with the Mozambican government to help it defeat the insurgents.
https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-04-09-sa-private-military-contractors-and-mozambican-airforce-conduct-major-air-attacks-on-islamist-extremists/amp/
