Maputo  - Members of Mozambique's main opposition party Renamo allegedly abducted several members of the country's new opposition Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM) during campaigning and held them hostage for hours, reports said Wednesday.

Mozambique's daily Noticias newspaper said the MDM members were campaigning for presidential, parliamentary and local elections in October in Buzi district, central Sofala province when they were intercepted by members of Renamo.

The report said the abductees, whose number was not given and could not be confirmed Wednesday, were taken away and held hostage for a few hours at Renamo offices.

Buzi's police chief Pedro Manteiga confirmed the incident and said police had to intervene to secure the peaceful release of the MDM members.

Fernando Gaissa, MDM's local representative, told Noticias that the Renamo members had used knives and other crude weapons to damage MDM campaign material.

It was not clear whether the MDM had laid any charges with police.

The incident follows a failed assassination attempt on MDM leader Daviz Simango while he was campaigning in the north of the country earlier this month. That incident, in which no-one was seriously injured, was also blamed by police on a Renamo agent.

A source at Renamo told the German Press Agency the party had been trying to frighten Simango to prevent him siphoning away support from the longtime opposition.

Large numbers of Renamo members have deserted the party in recent months for the MDM, including party leader and Beira port mayor Simango, who quit Renamo after it refused to field him for re- election as Beira mayor.

He ran anyway as an independent, was re-elected and formed a new party.

Simango has announced that he will challenge President Armando Guebuza and the ruling Frelimo in the October polls, providing unwelcome competition for Renamo, which fought a brutal 16-year civil war against Frelimo between 1976 and 1992.(dpa)