While thousands remain stranded a week after the northern Mozambican town of Palma was besieged by jihadists, over 5 000 people have reached safety.

Armed militants ransacked buildings on 24 March, beheading residents as they fled.

The coordinated attack is seen as the biggest escalation of an insurgency that has battered Cabo Delgabo province since 2017.

More than 5 000 people have reached safety outside the northern Mozambican town of Palma a week after it was besieged by jihadists, the UN said on Wednesday, as thousands remained stranded.

Armed militants raided the coastal town on March 24, ransacking buildings and beheading residents as thousands fled into surrounding forest.

Dozens have been killed and many more are still missing in a coordinated attack seen as the biggest escalation of an insurgency that has battered Cabo Delgabo province since 2017.

"As of yesterday afternoon there were 5 360 displaced people... who had arrived in Nangade, Mueda, Montepuez and Pemba districts," International Organization for Migration (IOM) spokesperson Sandra Black told AFP on Wednesday.

"That displacement is rapidly increasing."

The fighting had already displaced around 670 000 people in the gas-rich province, more than 43 000 of which were staying in Palma before the attack.