Local people in Chiúre district, southern Cabo Delgado province, have buried 42 members of the traditional Naparama militia in a mass grave after they were killed in clashes with Islamist insurgents earlier this week.
The fighters died after pursuing insurgents who had attacked Messanja village, in Katapua administrative post, before dawn on Sunday. The raid triggered panic among residents, forcing many to flee to safer areas. Messanja lies less than five kilometres from Katapua village.
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Who are the Naparama? - Zitamar
A local militia called the Naparama emerged last year to fight insurgents in Cabo Delgado, rooted in an infamous predecessor of the same name, which formed in the late 1980s to fight on the Frelimo side of the Mozambican civil war
Tom Gould
