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Mozambique police warn bald men after ritual attack | Mozambique police warn bald men after ritual attack |
(about 3 hours later) | |
Bald men in Mozambique could be targets of ritual attacks, police have warned, after the recent killing of five men for their body parts. | |
Two suspects have been arrested in the central district of Milange, where the killings occurred. | Two suspects have been arrested in the central district of Milange, where the killings occurred. |
"The belief is that the head of a bald man contains gold," said Afonso Dias, a police commander in Mozambique's central Zambezia province. | "The belief is that the head of a bald man contains gold," said Afonso Dias, a police commander in Mozambique's central Zambezia province. |
Albino people have also been killed in the region for ritual purposes. | Albino people have also been killed in the region for ritual purposes. |
Three men have been killed in the past week alone. | |
The BBC's Jose Tembe in the capital, Maputo, says police think the notion of a bald head containing gold is a ruse by witchdoctors to get clients to take a person's head to them. | |
"Their motive comes from superstition and culture - the local community thinks bald individuals are rich," Commander Dias is reported as having told a press conference in Maputo. | |
The suspects are two young Mozambicans aged around 20, the AFP news agency reports. | The suspects are two young Mozambicans aged around 20, the AFP news agency reports. |
A regional security spokesman, Miguel Caetano, told AFP that one of the victims had his head cut off and his organs removed. | |
The organs were to be used in rituals to advance the wealth of clients in Tanzania and Malawi, Mr Caetano said, citing the suspects. | |
There has been a spate of killings of people with albinism in East Africa in recent years, with their body parts used to make charms and potions by witchdoctors. |