An Islamist group used child soldiers in Mozambique attacks, says Human Rights Watch

By FARAI MUTSAKA
Associated Press

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Human Rights Watch says an Islamist group operating in Mozambique’s northern Cabo Delgado province used boys as young as 13 in attacks on a town last week. The HRW report says residents who were forced to flee the fighting recognized some of the child soldiers as their missing relatives.  Al-Shabab, which is affiliated to the Islamic State group, has previously been accused of kidnapping children and using them as soldiers in its seven-year insurgency in the region. The latest attacks came days before an environmental non-profit organization said that it had conducted an investigation and found that illegal timber exports from Cabo Delgado to China are financing some of the insurgents.