Mozambique: Political Violence Rises

Members of a Mozambican opposition party’s militia killed four police officers in an attack on a provincial police station to try to free more than a dozen party members arrested in a police raid on their headquarters, the police said Friday. The opposition party, Renamo, confirmed that its members carried out the attack on Thursday in the town of Muxungue in Sofala Province, home of the party headquarters that the police had raided a day earlier. The party’s security chief, Osufo Madate, said the attack showed Renamo’s refusal to tolerate “oppression” by the governing party, Frelimo. The episode was one of the worst outbreaks of political violence in a decade and raised concerns about next year’s elections.