Almost one million people are facing severe hunger in northern Mozambique, where hundreds of thousands of people had been forced to flee a jihadist insurgency.

The World Food Programme (WFP) gave the warning on Tuesday during a news conference in Geneva.

“As the security situation continues to deteriorate, more than 950,000 people in the north of Mozambique are now facing severe hunger,” Tomson Phiri, a spokesman for the WFP said.

Islamic State-linked militants have escalated attacks in Mozambique’s northernmost province Cabo Delgado in the past year.

They were also murdering villagers, fighting the army and seizing towns from the people.