Mozambique’s defence ministry has denounced a video that shows men dressed in police uniform assaulting and eventually killing a woman, the AFP news agency reports.

The video shows a naked woman pleading for her life as the men accuse her of being part of the Al-Shabab group – a militant group that has been carrying out an insurgency in the northern Cabo Delgado province.

The men hit the victim several times before shooting her dead.

The defence ministry has said in a statement that it does not tolerate such barbaric acts, AFP reports.

Last week the government had accused jihadists dressed in military uniforms of carrying out atrocities in the province.

This was in response to Amnesty International’s accusations that Mozambican soldiers were torturing and killing civilians during counter-insurgency operations.