Children as young as 11 are being beheaded - some in front of their mothers

by ISIS-linked militants who have killed 2,500 people during Mozambique insurgency

Mother said son, 12, was beheaded close to where she hid with her children Another said she was unable to bury her son because her family had to flee, Jihadists have been fighting insurgency in Cabo Delgado province since 2017

Children as young as 11 have been beheaded by ISIS-linked militants who have killed more than 2,500 people over the last three years in Mozambique.

One mother told Save the Children that her eldest son, 12, had his head cut off close to where she was hiding with her three other children when their village was raided. 

Another mother described her heartache at leaving her murdered 11-year-old son in their village without a burial because her family were forced to flee. Nearly 580,000 people left their homes last year as violence intensified across the gas-rich Cabo Delgado province where a group calling itself Islamic State Central Africa Province have been waging a brutal insurgency since 2017.  

Mozambique soldiers patrol the northern town of Mocimboa da Praia before it was taken over by the ISIS militants in August last year.