Mozambique: 5 troops killed, 2 wounded, in fighting with opposition group

MAPUTO, Mozambique – Media in Mozambique say at least five government troops were killed and two others were wounded in fighting with alleged members of an opposition group.

State radio and television say the clashes happened Monday in Sofala province in central Mozambique. There were no immediate reports on any casualties among opposition fighters from Renamo, a former rebel movement.

Renamo and the governing Frelimo party have held talks since the beginning of the year in the capital, Maputo, to try to resolve their differences.

After independence from Portugal in 1975, Mozambique fell into a devastating war between Frelimo, then a Marxist guerrilla group, and Renamo, which was backed by the white minority government that ruled neighboring South Africa at the time.