Police in the firing line

Good afternoon. Is it safe to be a police officer in Mozambique? Two incidents this week at opposite ends of the country suggest not. Yesterday, an officer of the National Criminal Investigation Service (Sernic) was shot and wounded in his car in the city of Matola, while in the north, a police officer was killed at a pumping station operated by mining company Kenmare in Nampula province the day before (see below).

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The contexts are of course rather different. The officer shot in Matola yesterday was the fourth to be attacked in that city since mid-June. All of them have been targeted while driving or riding in cars, and this is the first time that the officer has survived. It is hard to escape the impression that there is an assassination campaign going on, especially given the history of such killings within law enforcement.