HUNDREDS of residents are continuing to flee Palma in northern Mozambique every day, aid agencies said today, six weeks after it was overrun by jihadist fighters.

Armed militia linked to Isis attacked the town on March 24, killing scores of people and causing work on a multibillion-dollar liquefied natural gas project to grind to a halt.

Government forces eventually retook control of Palma, but many residents say the situation remains volatile due to the insurgency that has gripped the Cabo Delgado province for three years.

According to the United Nations, almost half of Palma’s 75,000 inhabitants have fled and are being supported with humanitarian aid at camps in Mueda and Nangade, several miles inland.

“The situation in Palma is very unstable, [with] shooting at night,” an aid worker in Mueda, about 110 miles south-west of Palma, said.

“It's a place where you cannot sleep thinking you are going to wake up with no problems,” they added.

Just a few weeks ago a refugee from the camp who returned to Palma was found beheaded and many fear returning to their homes.

Last week Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi vowed to “restore normalcy” and end the “barbaric” and “malicious” terror attacks. He has been given a $100 million (£70m) World Bank loan for infrastructure projects.