Maputo - At least seven people were killed by wildfires started by an arsonist in Gorongosa District, where the famous Gorongosa National Park is located, Mozambique's national radio station reported Thursday.

Among the victims, five were children who died when the huts they were sleeping in were overrun by fire.

The fires engulfed several houses, barns and a school, and destroyed crops. A man was in police custody.

Maputo  - The government has given the state oil and gas company permission to explore the large gas reserve at the Buzi bloc in central Mozambique.

ENH (the National Hydrocarbonate Company) will be permitted to explore the 10 to 17 billion cubic feet of gas in the reserve and to seek potential partners to invest in the project, government spokesperson Luis Covane told reporters.

"It's confirmed that there is gas in the region. The concession period for the study phase is eight years and we will give the rights to explore and produce gas to ENH for a period of 25 years," Covane said.

Maputo  - The death toll from a spell of bad weather in southern Africa had reached at least 25 by Tuesday as the mop-up after three days of storms that fanned wildfires got underway in South Africa, Swaziland, Mozambique.

In Mozambique, at least four people were killed, 20 injured and one was unaccounted for after a wildfire gutted dozens of houses in a village in central Manica province, state television reported Tuesday.

The dead were an elderly woman and her three grandsons, who were burned in their hut. Hundreds of other villagers were homeless after their shacks were engulfed by the flames.

Maputo - The death toll reached at least 25 by Tuesday as the mop-up after three days of storms that fanned wildfires got underway in South Africa, Swaziland, Mozambique.

In Mozambique, at least four people were killed and 20 injured after a wildfire gutted dozens of houses in a village in central Manica province, state television reported.

The dead were an elderly woman and her three grandsons, who were burned in their hut. Hundreds of other villagers were homeless after their shacks were engulfed by the flames.

The fire, which was still raging Tuesday and was eating into indigenous forest, was thought to have been started by a farmer who was clearing land to sow crops at the onset of spring.

Maputo - Two women were devoured by lions in northern Mozambique, bringing to at least 14 the number of people thus killed in Cabo Delgado province over the past six months, Radio Mozambique reported Tuesday.

The women's bodies were discovered at the weekend near Quirimba National Park, where attacks by wild animals on humans are frequent, the report said.

The rising number of attacks has been put down to the tussle between humans and animals over shared resources, namely water and pastures.

Maputo- The government of Mozambique is finalizing contracts with eight companies to be