Maputo — The civil society organisation Koxukhoro, based in the northern Mozambican city of Nampula, claims that 38 people have died in clashes between artisanal miners and the police in the district of Mogovolas, and a further 13 people have been injured.

This is radically different from the version of events given by the police last week, which claimed that the clashes, in the Mogovolas administrative post of Iuluti, were between the police and members of the peasant militia known as the Naparamas.

The police initially claimed that only seven people had died, but in a Nampula press conference on Monday, Koxukhoro put the death toll at 38.

According to a report by the independent television station STV, Koxukhoro also denied the police claim that the victims included members of political parties, notably the National Alliance for a Free and Autonomous Mozambique (Anamola), the party set up by former presidential candidate, Venancio Mondlane.

Koxukhoro said that none of the dead were carrying party membership cards.

Koxukhoro added that its is collecting evidence for legal action against those police agents involved in the killings.

Contacted by STV, the Nampula Provincial Police command insisted that only seven people had died in the clashes, one police officer and six naparamas.