By Manuel Mucari and Custodio Cossa MAPUTO (Reuters) -Mozambique opposition leader Venancio Mondlane returned from self-exile on Thursday, defiantly claiming to have won a hotly contested October election,

Injuries reported as police fire tear gas and live ammunition as Venancio Mondlane lands in Maputo after disputed vote.

Mozambique opposition leader Venancio Mondlane returned home on Thursday, after fleeing in the days following a hotly contested October election that sparked demonstrations in which scores of protesters have been killed.

Mozambique’s main opposition leader has returned from self-imposed exile saying he still rejects the results of a disputed election last year that has sparked more than two months of protests and a violent crackdown by security forces.

Thousands of people turned out to meet Mozambique's main opposition leader after he returned home from more than two months in exile Thursday to push his claim that he won the October presidential election.

Some speculate that Frelimo is instigating chaos as an excuse to crack down. Security forces have killed around 300 people since the protests began, including 176 in the final week of December alone,

He began to pray and swore to serve the people of Mozambique as the president elected by the people and not by a court. In his first comments Mondlane said that he was ready to ta