At least 120 children have been abducted by insurgents in Mozambique, rights group says

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — At least 120 children have been kidnapped by jihadist insurgents in northern Mozambique in recent days, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday, warning of a rise in abductions in the country's troubled Cabo Delgado province.

The children are reportedly being used by an Islamic State–linked group known locally as al-Shabab to transport looted goods, perform forced labor, and in some cases serve as child soldiers or be forced into marriage.

Mozambique has been battling the Islamist insurgency in Cabo Delgado since 2017. Government forces have struggled to contain the violence, relying on support from troops sent by Rwanda, South Africa, and other regional partners.

In 2020, the insurgents carried out a wave attacks in which they beheaded dozens of people, including children. Witnesses have said that children abducted from towns and villages have been used as fighters in subsequent attacks.

The violence has displaced more than 600,000 people and spilled into neighboring provinces, according to the United Nations.

Human Rights Watch said there had been a resurgence of attacks and child kidnappings in the last two months and called on Mozambique's government to do more to find the children and prevent further abductions.

The problems in Cabo Delgado were largely overshadowed by Mozambique's deadly and long-running post-election protests last year. Cabo Delgado has also been battered by several recent cyclones and hurt by U.S. President Donald Trump's cuts to foreign aid.

The Norwegian Refugee Council's Secretary General, Jan Egeland, visited Cabo Delgado this month and described the situation in northern Mozambique as a neglected crisis.

“Climate shocks, increasing violence and spiralling hunger are having a terrible impact on the population,” Egeland said.

The NRC said more than 5 million people faced critical levels of hunger and more than 900,000 people faced emergency hunger conditions.

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FILE - In this image made from video, a Mozambican soldier rides on an armored vehicle at the airport in Mocimboa da Praia, Cabo Delgado province, Mozambique, Aug. 9, 2021. (AP Photo/Marc Hoogsteyns, File)

A Ukrainian drone strike killed one person and wounded three others in the Russian city of Voronezh, local officials said Sunday.

A young woman died overnight in a hospital intensive care unit after debris from a drone fell on a house during the attack on Saturday, regional Gov. Alexander Gusev said on Telegram.

Three other people were wounded and more than 10 apartment buildings, private houses and a high school were damaged, he said, adding that air defenses shot down 17 drones over Voronezh. The city is home to just over 1 million people and lies some 250 kilometers (155 miles) from the Ukrainian border.

The attack came the day after Russia bombarded Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles overnight into Friday, killing at least four people in the capital Kyiv, according to Ukrainian officials.

For only the second time in the nearly four-year war, Russia used a powerful new hypersonic missile that struck western Ukraine in a clear warning to Kyiv and NATO.

The intense barrage and the launch of the nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile followed reports of major progress in talks between Ukraine and its allies on how to defend the country from further aggression by Moscow if a U.S.-led peace deal is struck.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday in his nightly address that Ukrainian negotiators “continue to communicate with the American side.”

Chief negotiator Rustem Umerov was in contact with U.S. partners Saturday, he said.

Separately, Ukraine’s General Staff said Russia targeted Ukraine with 154 drones overnight into Sunday and 125 were shot down.

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This photo provided by the Ukrainian Security Service on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, shows a fragment believed to be a part of a Russian Oreshnik intermediate range hypersonic ballistic missile that hit the Lviv region. (Ukrainian Security Service via AP)

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, second left, listens to British Defense Secretary John Healey during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Danylo Antoniuk)