Photo: Collected

MAPUTO, Oct 22, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - At least two members of Mozambique's security forces were killed Tuesday morning in a jihadist attack in northern Cabo Delgado province, conflict monitoring group ACLED told AFP Wednesday.

Attacks by Islamic State-linked jihadists have picked up in recent months in the area where a deadly insurgency has been raging since October 2017.

"A vehicle of the police Rapid Intervention Unit (UIR) was attacked, we think while escorting a convoy of vehicles. At least two UIR officers killed," ACLED analyst Peter Bofin told AFP.

The Mozambique military, which is supported by Rwandan forces in battling an Islamist insurgency that started in Palma's Cabo Delgado province in October 2017, rarely comments on attacks.

The Mozambique military rarely confirms attacks and did not comment on the incident.

"The insurgents attacked the UIR vehicle in the Muidumbe district, between the villages of Chitunda and Awasse," a military officer who asked to remain anonymous told AFP, reporting four victims.

"Four of the 12 Mozambican troops in the vehicle were killed, and the rest were wounded but managed to escape," he said.

The attack occurred on a road connecting two of the main northern cities, Macomia and Mocimboa da Praia, along which several military outposts are based, including some of the Rwandan army which has supported Mozambique in fighting the insurgency since mid-2021.

The European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations department (ECHO) recorded 519 insurgent attacks in northern Mozambique since January 2025 -- "the highest number since the conflict began", according to an October 1 report.

The United Nations' Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has also reported last week a "significant increase in incidents involving kidnappings, killings, and the use of improvised explosive devices ... putting 2025 on track to exceed previous peaks in violence".

Muslim-majority Cabo Delgado is one of the poorest parts of Mozambique but its rich gas fields have drawn some of Africa's biggest investments, including a multi-billion-dollar liquefied natural gas project operated by French energy giant TotalEnergies.

The project has been stalled since an insurgent attack on the nearby town of Palma in March 2021 that killed more than 800 people, but TotalEnergies' direction has said it hoped to resume this year.

Among the more than 800 people killed in the 2021 strike were TotalEnergies subcontractors, according to ACLED, which says the insurgency has claimed more than 6,200 lives in eight years.