Northern Mozambique: Thousands flee as violence strikes communities

Displaced People's Camp in Cabo Delgado Province, Credit: ACN

Source: Aid to the Church in Need

Four Christians have been killed and one beheaded in a spate of Jihadist violence which has hit northern Mozambique. Bishop Alberto Vera Aréjula of Nacala, whose diocese covers Nampula, where the murders took place, said several settlements have been attacked, thousands of people have fled and hundreds of houses set on fire since 10 November 2025. There are also reports of people being kidnapped, including women and children, by terrorists who claim allegiance to the Islamic State.

Bishop Vera told Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need: "It has been a week of terror and much suffering. Parents and their children had to flee to safer places. Thousands of families are suffering and trying to escape the terrorists, the situation is very confusing, and in some places most of the houses were burned, and people have been killed. Four Christians were killed. One of them was beheaded. There are also reports of at least two chapels destroyed by the insurgents."

The United Nations has estimated that about 128,000 people have fled in just one week from the villages of Lúrio and Mazula, in Memba, which borders Cabo Delgado Province, after attacks by extremist groups. The bishop added: "Terror is in the whole district of Memba and also in the north and east of the district of Eráti. Memba is a now deserted city."

Since 2017, violent extremist attacks have been taking place in the neighbouring province of Cabo Delgado, where at least 4,500 people have been killed and more than one million displaced. Violence is not new in Memba. In September 2022, Sr Maria de Coppi was martyred when her mission was attacked.

Bishop Vera appealed for prayers. He said: "Pray a lot for us, because this is an incomprehensible, intolerable reality. We ask God to help us and grant us peace. We also ask the Mozambican government for the means to fight terrorists not only militarily, but also with dialogue and with international means."

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