In recent weeks, heavily armed insurgents linked with the Islamic State, or ISIS, have taken over a string of islands in northern Mozambique.

The port town of Palma was the latest to fall, and one of the islands attacked, Vamizi, is home to South African-owned tourist resorts.

It’s estimated that in excess of 2 000 South Africans work in the Carbo Delgardo region, mainly on projects related to the area’s vast offshore gas fields.

In some areas, there have been reports of beheadings and kidnapping of women and children, as entire villages are raided, and a number of disturbing videos have circulated.

One video stands out from the rest, which has caught the attention of various humans rights organisations around the world, and the BBC has investigated:

Both the Islamist insurgents, who have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, and the Mozambican army have been accused of atrocities. In one of the latest videos from the region a group of armed men can be seen murdering a naked woman – but, where exactly did it happen and who are they?

The BBC’s Andrew Harding has been speaking to researchers from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, and also to open source investigators like @il_kanguru (who prefers to keep his identity private), to try to establish what exactly happened.

The Mozambique army says it does not agree “with any barbaric act that substantiates the violation of human rights”. The government has promised to investigate the video, but also suggested the footage has been doctored. The insurgents are known to have impersonated soldiers by wearing their uniforms in the past.

The video below is a tough watch, but does help shed light on what’s happening in one of the countries that borders us to the north:

It’s truly chilling stuff.

To shed further light on Mozambique’s situation, TimesLIVE’s Anthony Molyneaux put together this explainer of sorts:

The links between South Africa and what’s happening in Mozambique, both in terms of fighters on the ground and financing, are becoming increasingly clearer.

[sources:bbc&timeslive]