Jihadists plaguing parts of northern Mozambique for the past three-and-half years abducted dozens of children during raids in 2020, British charity Save the Children said in a report published Wednesday.

In Mozambique's troubled province of Cabo Delgado, there have been 51 documented cases of minors being abducted - most of them young girls - over the past year, the charity group Save the Children reported on Wednesday.

In March the Islamic-State linked militants launched a coordinated assault on Palma town, killing dozens and forcing more than 67,000 to abandon their homes.

The aid organization said the number was likely on the conservative side and that the true case count was probably "significantly higher" in the province, where Islamist terrorists have carried out a growing number of attacks since late March, as per report. The abduction of children in Cabo Delgado is a "new and alarming tactic" by the militants and the hostages must be immediately released, Save the Children said.

Many of the children witness cruel attacks and are then abducted in whole groups, it said. The population of oil-rich Cabo Delago has been suffering from brutal attacks for the past three years, but Islamist rebel groups have significantly expanded their attacks since late March.

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