neha: the building materials arrived.e and the other men labored in the sweltering heat, dragging the poles and thatch that would become their new homes. abadre has been told that this arrangement is only temporary, but the creation of these semi-permanent settlements indicates that his family's stay may last months, if not years. >> i don't want to be here, but the government said, come stay here and wait until the wais over. and when the war ends you can go back home. and what i want to say is that i'm crying out to go back home. neha: some escaping violence in the north have fled by boat, rather than on foot. they sail from the mainland coastal towns to a string of small islands along mozambique's coastline. ibo island was once a sparkling eco-tourism destination. but in 2019, cyclone kenneth ripped through the regio reducing ibo's hotels and colonial-era buildings to rubble. just a year later, armed groups tried to seize control of the islands. from one of ibo's forts, issa tarmamade, the island's district administrat

before that, special correspondent neha wadekar and her team were among the first to access the region and speak to survivors. they have this report. >> ( translated ): i saw this happening. killing. the men told us, "sit there and watch someone be beheaded. >> reporter: this is 10-year-old maria antumane. both of her parents were killed in the attack she witnessed. she managed to escape, into th forest. as she fled, her foot got caught in a hunting snare. she lay trapped, and terrified, for hours. >> ( translated ): i was trapped from 6:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. i was screaming and crying. and people came to open the trap. and when they opened it, they removed it, and saw the wound. >> reporter: maria was rescued and taken south to a hospital in pemba, the capital city in cabo delgado province that is like a last frontier between safety and the fighting in the north. there, she recovered from her wounds and malaria. her aunt also escaped that day, and says the attackers are known locally as al shabaab, an arabic phrase which means the youth. what started as a local insurgency of disenfr