Islamist insurgents targeting victims as young as 11, according to Save the Children

Children as young as 11 are being beheaded in Mozambique as part of an Islamist insurgency that has killed thousands and forced many more from their homes, a UK-based aid group has said.

Save the Children said it had spoken to displaced families who described “horrifying scenes” of murder, including mothers whose young sons were killed. In one case, the woman hid, helpless, with her three other children as her 12-year-old was murdered nearby.

Militants seized the Mocímboa da Praia site, which is near gas projects worth £45bn, last week

Government troops are taking up positions outside a port in the far north of Mozambique which was captured by Islamist extremists last week in the latest escalation of the insurgency in the southern African country.

Hundreds of reinforcements have been rushed into position around the port in the town of Mocímboa da Praia.

Police say villagers were killed, most beheaded or shot, after some refused to join extremists

An Islamist extremist group in northern Mozambique has killed dozens of villagers in its most bloody attack.

More than 50 people were massacred in an attack in Xitaxi in Muidumbe district after locals refused to be recruited to its ranks, according to police cited by local media. Most were either shot dead or beheaded.