The brutal attacks in Mozambique are a 'game-changer' and imperil a whole country's financial future

The assault over the last week by Islamist militants on a town in northern Mozambique is the most serious and deadly in their four-year insurgency -- and directly threatens the country's economic future.

People who escaped the town of Palma in Cabo Delgado province speak of dozens of bodies scattered on the streets -- some beheaded, of buildings burned to the ground, banks raided and the local army barracks ransacked. The group that carried out the attack is known locally as Shabaab -- the Youth -- but little is known about its ideology or organization. What is clear is that its reach has expanded across much of Cabo Delgado, a province the size of Austria. Mozambique's government, despite the assistance of private military contractors from South Africa and Russia in the past two years, has been unable to halt its momentum.