A rebel leader in Mozambique has been killed following an intense gun battle with government troops in his forest hide-out in central Sofala province, police said.
Mariano Nhongo – who led the Renamo Military Junta – was ‘killed along with a close associate’ of his.
Nhongo had broken away from Renamo, rejecting a peace deal it had signed with President Filipe Nyusi in 2019 to end conflict.
On Peace Day on 4 October, Mr Nyusi said that troops had reached Nhongo’s base. The president urged him to surrender.
Nhongo’s fighters were responsible for small-scale attacks on civilians.