Islamic militants have beheaded more than 50 men and boys and dismembered their bodies on a football field in Mozambique, according to reports from state media.

The victims’ bodies were discovered on Monday scattered across a forest in the Muidumbe district. The massacre was the latest in a series of gruesome attacks in the Cabo Delgado province in recent years.

“These were young people who were at an initiation rite ceremony accompanied by their advisers,” said an officer in the neighbouring Mueda district who asked not to be named.

The attackers, who are said to be linked to the Islamic State, also beheaded several people in a nearby village.

It’s reported that up to 2,000 people in the mainly-Muslim province have been killed and about 430,000 have been left homeless since 2017.

According to SBS News, “Jihadists have caused havoc in Mozambique’s northeastern Cabo Delgado province over the past three years, ravaging villages and towns as part of a campaign to establish an Islamist caliphate.”