MDF soldier severely beaten in Mulanje after shooting incident

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Irate communities in Mulanje district have roughed up a Malawi Defence Force (MDF) soldier, one of the militants believed to have a shot a man found cultivating close to Mulanje Mountain.

According to reports that Malawi24 is following, the soldier in company others had brutally beaten a man who they found ‘encroaching ‘ in the mountain before reportedly shooting him.

It was after this that the communities ganged up against the soldiers and they managed to get hold of one of them whom they nearly beat to death before police officers from Muloza station came to his rescue.

MDF
MDF soldiers not wanted in Mulanje .(File)

The identities of the soldier are yet to be known.

It is said that the others had fled from their camps having noted the people came to ‘revenge.’

While it is sketchy whether the shot man in alive or not, the locals there have stuck to their guns and said they do not want the ‘cruel’ soldiers around the district anymore.

Mulanje district hospital publicist, Innocent Chazimba is quoted by local media as having said that the injured soldier had deep cuts on his body and open fractures.

Malawi24 understands that the soldier has been referred to the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre where he is receiving treatment.

In May this year, the MDF deployed soldiers to the Mulanje Mountain which has suffered massive deforestation over the years.

The country’s defence force had been granted permission to look after the mountain by the city councils of districts that surround the mountain which include Phalombe and Mulanje itself.

This followed increased cases of charcoal burning and logging which are making the mountain look bare.