The African Union on Thursday called for urgent and coordinated international action after a jihadist attack that killed dozens and uprooted thousands on the northern Mozambican coastal town of Palma.

The jihadists captured Palma on March 24, ransacking buildings and beheading residents and forcing thousands to seek safety in surrounding forest.

Dozens have been killed, more than 8,000 displaced and many more are still missing following the coordinated attack seen as the biggest escalation of an Islamist insurgency that has battered Cabo Delgado province since 2017.

In a statement, AU chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat said he “condemns in the strongest terms the terrorist attacks”.

Expressing “utmost concern” at the presence of international extremist groups in southern Africa, he called for an “urgent and coordinated regional and international action”.

Regional bloc the Southern African Development Community held emergency talks in Harare to discuss the violence.