Palma is a town on the northeast coast of

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

Cabo Delgado Province Cabo Delgado is the northernmost province of Mozambique. It has an area of and a population of 2,320,261 (2017). As well as bordering Mtwara Region in the neighboring country of Tanzania, it borders the provinces of Nampula and Niassa. The reg ...

. Less than away is the border with

Mtwara Region Mtwara Region (''Mkoa wa Mtwara'' in Swahili) is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative regions. The regional capital is the municipality of Mtwara. Mtwara Region is home to one of the most infuluencial people in Tanzania, the Makonde. Mtwara is ...

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

to the north and north-west.

Economy and languages

Various languages, including Makwe, Makonde, Mwani, Swahili, and

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

, are spoken in the town.''Lonely Planet Southern Africa'' (

Lonely Planet Lonely Planet is a travel guide book publisher. Founded in Australia in 1973, the company has printed over 150 million books. History Early years Lonely Planet was founded by married couple Maureen and Tony Wheeler. In 1972, they embarked ...

: 7th ed. 2017), p. 227. The town was historically known for its fishing,

basketry Basket weaving (also basketry or basket making) is the process of weaving or sewing pliable materials into three-dimensional artifacts, such as baskets, mats, mesh bags or even furniture. Craftspeople and artists specialized in making baskets ...

, and mat-weaving industries. The local economy was transformed by the discovery of gas in the nearby

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...

in 2010, which led to a rapidly growing

liquefied natural gas Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled down to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volu ...

sector. Palma is close to facilities for natural gas extraction off the coast of Mozambique, a major offshore gas project by

TotalEnergies TotalEnergies SE is a French Multinational corporation, multinational integrated energy and List of oil exploration and production companies, petroleum company founded in 1924 and one of the seven Big Oil, supermajor oil companies. Its businesses ...

.Max Bearak
As militants overrun Mozambique oil town, fears rise of 'humanitarian catastrophe'
''Washington Post'' (31 March 2021).

2021 attack

Beginning in October 2017, armed

Islamist extremists Islamic extremism, Islamist extremism, or radical Islam, is used in reference to extremist beliefs and behaviors which are associated with the Islamic religion. These are controversial terms with varying definitions, ranging from academic unde ...

linked to the

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...

(ISIL) launched a

jihadist Jihadism is a neologism which is used in reference to "militant Islamic movements that are perceived as existentially threatening to the West" and "rooted in political Islam."Compare: Appearing earlier in the Pakistani and Indian media, Wes ...

insurgency in the Cabo Delgado region. The militants launched attacks and committed mass beheadings, and in August 2020 seized the port town of Mocimboa da Praia. The group sometimes called themselves ''al-Shabaab'', although they do not have known links with the Somali al-Shabaab, a different

group. They attacked Palma on 24 March 2021; more than 35,000 people were displaced, many fleeing to the provincial capital,

Pemba Pemba may refer to: __NOTOC__ Places * Pemba Island, in Tanzania * Pemba, Mozambique, the capital of Cabo Delgado Province * Pemba, Zambia, a small town Individuals * George Pemba, South African painter * Pemba (panda), a red panda * Tsewang Yishe ...

.Andrew Meldrum
Rebels leave beheaded bodies in streets of Mozambique town
Associated Press (29 March 2021). Dozens of civilians were murdered, with beheaded bodies left in the street. The militants battled with the Mozambican military, police, and the

Dyck Advisory Group Dyck Advisory Group (or DAG) is a private military company based in Velddrif, South Africa. History The firm was founded in 2012 by Lionel Dyck, an ex-military colonel who had served in the Rhodesian Security Forces and then the Zimbabwe Defence ...

private military company A private military company (PMC) or private military and security company (PMSC) is a private company providing armed combat or security services for financial gain. PMCs refer to their personnel as "security contractors" or "private military ...

hired by the police). Lionel Dyck, the head of the Dyck group, said that the attackers wore dark uniforms, were organized, and well-equipped with

AK-47 The AK-47, officially known as the ''Avtomat Kalashnikova'' (; also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is a gas operated, gas-operated assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian s ...

rifles,

RPD RPD may refer to: People * Robert Prentiss Daniel, American psychologist * Rahul Peter Das, German professor * Rajendra Prasad Das, Indian archaeologist * Royal Page Davidson, American scholar * Richard Paul Davies, English priest * Richard Pe ...

and PKM machine guns, and

heavy mortar A mortar is usually a simple, lightweight, man-portable, muzzle-loaded weapon, consisting of a smooth-bore (although some models use a rifled barrel) metal tube fixed to a base plate (to spread out the recoil) with a lightweight bipod mount and ...

s. Prior to the attack, the population was around 75,000. Many foreign and domestic natural gas workers evacuated the town by boat, helicopter, and convey, but others could not be evacuated. Most communications with the town were cut off on 29 March.Emma Rumney & Omar Fahmy
Islamic State claims deadly attack on northern Mozambique town
Reuters (29 March 2021). On 29 March,

claimed that its

Islamic State's Central Africa Province Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the mai ...

was responsible for the attack and said they had killed 55 people, including Mozambican army soldiers; these claims could not be immediately independently verified. The attack on Palma raised fears of a possible

humanitarian crisis A humanitarian crisis (or sometimes humanitarian disaster) is defined as a singular event or a series of events that are threatening in terms of health, safety or well-being of a community or large group of people. It may be an internal or extern ...

. On 5 April, military forces of Mozambique recaptured Palma.

References

{{reflist Populated places in Cabo Delgado Province