U.N. warns civilians, including kids, facing "unspeakable horror" in ISIS siege on Mozambique town

Johannesburg, South Africa — As ISIS militants laid siege to Mozambique's coastal city of Palma over the weekend, nearly 200 foreign workers holed up in a local hotel faced a terrifying choice: Stay put and hope to be rescued, or attempt to flee across rebel lines. Meryl Knox, a South African whose husband and two sons were among those trapped, said worrying about her family, "wondering whether they they're all going to be coming home in boxes," was a harrowing ordeal.

They tried to escape from the hotel and Palma, which the insurgents seized over the course of about three days, in a convoy of 17 cars. Only seven of the vehicles made it out of militant-held territory in the embattled Cabo Delgado region. Among those killed was Knox's eldest son, Adrian Nel. Her husband and her other son had to hide in bushes overnight with his body.  Dozens of residents were also killed in the coordinated attacks, and reports suggest ISIS took as many as 40 foreign nationals hostage. The charity Save the Children said on Tuesday that the conflict in Cabo Delgado has left at least 2,658 people dead, including 1,341 civilians, since it started in 2017.