TRUCK AMBUSHED IN GONDOLA

Early on Saturday (28) morning unidentified gunmen ambushed a truck in the area of Amatongas, in Gondola district, in the central Mozambican province of Manica, according to a report on the independent television station STV.The truck was carrying goods from the port of Beira to the Manica provincial capital, Chimoio.

 

The driver thought nine shots were fired at the truck. “Suddenly I got a shock when the truck began to burn”, he told STV. “At first, I thought it was a problem with the engine. I got out of the cabin and saw that oil was pouring onto the ground”.

“Some minutes later”, he continued, “I and my colleague heard more shots. My colleague fled from his truck, while I hid in the bush from midnight to 04.30”.The second truck appeared to have driven off later: it did not appear in the STV footage. The driver said that when the police arrived, they searched the surrounding bush and collected spent cartridges.This is the second ambush in Gondola district so far this month. On 17 September two truck were attacked and four people suffered injuries.All these attacks are likely to be the work of self-styled “Renamo Military Junta”. This organisation was formed by dissidents from the main opposition party, the former rebel movement Renamo, and has rejected the peace agreement signed on 6 August between President Filipe Nyusi and Renamo leader Ossufo Momade.The Junta’s leader, Mariano Nhongo, who has appointed himself President of Renamo, has threatened to disrupt the current election campaign, under way across the country.