(Bloomberg) -- Insurgents, security forces and a private military company contracted by the government have killed hundreds of civilians in Mozambique’s northern Cabo Delgado province, according to Amnesty International.

“The people of Cabo Delgado are caught between the Mozambican security forces, the private militia fighting alongside the government and the armed opposition group locally known as ‘al-Shabaab’ -- none of which respect their right to life, or the rules of war,” Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International’s regional director for east and southern Africa, said in a statement on the organization’s website on Tuesday. “All three have committed war crimes, causing the deaths of hundreds of civilians.”

The report, based on interviews with scores of people displaced by the violence, focuses primarily on the impact of increased fighting in Cabo Delgado since a major attack by the insurgents on Mocímboa da Praia in March 2020.

The insurgency, which began in the natural gas-rich region in October 2017, has left more than 2,500 people dead and caused an estimated 668,000 to flee their homes. At the turn of the year, Total SE suspended onshore work on a $20 billion project to export the fuel after attacks close to its site.

The defense ministry spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

Dyck Advisory Group, a private military company hired to support government troops, is sending a legal team to Cabo Delgado to investigate the allegations by Amnesty, according to founder Lionel Dyck. “I don’t believe they’ve looked at it at all accurately,” he said.

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