Key Mozambique gas hub 'under attack by gunmen'

Gunmen have attacked Mozambique's northern town of Palma, which is close to a multi-billion dollar gas project led by French oil giant Total, sources say.

The raid comes on the day it was announced that construction would soon resume on the scheme. Work was halted in December because of insecurity blamed on the Islamist insurgency in the north of country which began in 2017.

Automatic gunfire could be heard in the town and then communication was cut off, Reuters quotes sources telling Portugal's state news agency Lusa.

A security source told the AFP news agency that troops were fighting insurgents.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been uprooted by the violence in northern Mozambique's Cabo Delgado province.

Infamous for beheading residents in the resource-rich area, the jihadists have also managed to take control of towns in the last year.

These are used as transit points for goods and workers related to the gas developments, Reuters reports.

Many firms have moved into the region hoping to cashing in on one of the biggest gas finds in decades, it says.

This article originally appeared on BBC News

Photo: BBC News