Mozambique has a large Christian population, and Muslims make up around half of its inhabitants.
A religious movement, Ansar al-Sunna, first appeared in 2015 in the north of the country, formed by followers of radical Kenyan cleric Aboud Rogo Mohammed who has been linked to the 1998 US embassy bombings.
This group was made up of young disaffected men, who were unhappy about the lack of opportunity in an area with rich natural resources.
The company began to build mosques and religious schools and became more well-known among the locals.
However, the group began launching attacks in 2017 and was known as al-Shabab locally. They are not connected to Somalia’s Jihadist Rebels.
Militants started posting photos on the encrypted messaging service Telegram posing in front of the ISIS flag and praising its then leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
The Islamic State confirmed then that militants from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mozambique had also joined their Central Africa Province Division (ISCAP) of Jihadis.
ISIS has claimed responsibility for several of the terrorist attacks in Mozambique. They often posted photos online of their victims.
Leaders of ISIS taunted Africa and the West for failing to end the Mozambique insurgency.
Although militants continue to refer to themselves by the name al-Shabab, they now are strongly believed to be part of ISIS. This was confirmed by US officials back in December.
Nathan Sales, Counter-terrorism Coordinator, said that “What we are seeing is an ISIS affiliated that embraces ISIS ideology, ISIS tactics, procedures and the ISIS vision for a caliphate in which territorial control is the norm.”
As part of ISCAP, al-Shabab is part of ISIS’s formal structure and the jihadi group in the Congo allegedly helps fund its Mozambican counterparts.
The group is implicated in the terrorist network and has been using sophisticated attacks that use advanced weapons.
Cabo Delgado is the main province where rebels operate. Their attacks have become more frequented and fatal in recent years as they attempt to seize strategic areas.
In August, they captured the port town of Mocímboa da Praia and nearby villages, one of the first territory gains by ISIS in months.
The terrorist group then declared Mocímboa da Praia the capital of ISCAP.
As they attempt to establish a radical Islam and Sharia laws in the country, insurgents have been attacking Western and Christian values. They are also targeting civilians while security forces battle to stop their rebellion.
Their attacks have left an estimated 2,600 dead and caused 670,000 to flee their homes, creating a humanitarian crisis.
The US military sent special forces to Mozambique in March, in order to provide training for counterinsurgency marines.