TPDF to launch a manhunt along the border with Mozambique

What you need to know:

In February this year, the group attacked security forces and civilians in Cabo Delgado, killing people, destroying property and seizing fire-arms and ammunitions.

The Tanzania Peoples Defence Forces Southern Brigade has said they are going to launch a manhunt in the forests in regions that border Mozambique.

Speaking shortly after arrival at Luagala Village, Mbinga District, Ruvuma where they are conducting military exercises, the head of the operations said whoever was within those forests in Lindi, Mtwara and Ruvuma should leave with immediate effect to give way for the operations.

“There are criminals in these forests and we have come here to work. We shall start with Ruvuma after that we shall go to Mtwara and then Lindi because there are people carrying out criminal activities and they are in these forests,” he said.

In May, the government announced that it was dispatching troops to Tanzania’s border with Mozambique to boost security after insurgents launched attacks in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado.

In February this year, the group attacked security forces and civilians in Cabo Delgado, killing people, destroying property and seizing fire-arms and ammunitions.

In April, the group reportedly massacred at least 50 people in Muidumbe District when they over-ran the district’s capital Namacunde and occupied the district police command.

Media reports say the United Nations has recorded 28 attacks in the area since the beginning of 2020, which killed up to 400 people and displaced at least 100 000 others.