Rights watchdog Amnesty International on Tuesday called for an independent investigation into the killing of a naked woman by men in military uniform in the country's restive gas-rich northern region, an atrocity the government blamed on jihadist rebels. Video footage emerged this week showing men in army uniform beating a woman they accused of being an insurgent and then pumping her with multiple bullets. The Amnesty call came as the government in Maputo tried to absolve its troops of any wrongdoing, blaming the killing on militants that have waged a violent insurgency in Cabo Delgado province for the past three years. "The authorities in Mozambique must immediately launch an independent and impartial investigation into the extrajudicial killing of a defenceless naked woman in... in Mozambique's Cabo Delgado province," Amnesty International said in a statement. The government had on Monday vowed to investigate the video killing. But on Tuesday, emerging from a weekly cabinet meeting, the Interior Minister Amade Miquidade rubbished suggestions that the killers were government forces, saying they were jihadists dressed in uniforms "identical" to that of government troops. "The video showing atrocities against a pregnant woman is propaganda by terrorists," he said in a audio statement. "The video was made by terrorists ...to confuse the public and it is not the first time that this has happened," he said. The video first circulated on social media on Monday, but was first shared privately on mobile phones on September 7, the day it is suspected to have been taken, according to Amnesty. It showed what appears to be government troops shouting and marching behind a woman stripped of her clothing before beating and shooting her 36 times. Amnesty International said the footage was yet "another gruesome example of the gross human rights violations and merciless killings taking place in Cabo Delgado by the Mozambican security forces." According to analysis by Amnesty International, the yet unidentified woman was killed along a road in the small town of Awasse. The executioners were heard shouting in Portuguese that she is a member of Al Shabaab, the name of shadowy jihadist group that has led a growing insurgency against the government since 2017. Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International's regional director for east and southern Africa, said the incident was consistent with the watchdog's recent findings of rights violations and crimes "committed by the Mozambican armed forces". "Armed forces cannot enjoy free rein to commit crimes, under international law, and human rights violations, including killings of civilians in the name of fighting armed groups." Military forces have been struggling to regain control of Cabo Delgado, which is home to one of Africa's biggest liquefied natural gas projects. The jihadist violence has claimed more than 1,500 lives and displaced at least 250,000 people since 2017. str-mgu/sn/pvh