South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has authorized the use of 1,495 troops to help neighboring Mozambique fight an insurgency linked to the Islamic Statesaid the parliament on Wednesday.

The use of the South African National Defense Force (SANDF) comes after the Southern African regional bloc SADC last month approved sending troops to Mozambique to fight a conflict that began in 2017 and has killed thousands.

Cited by VOA, Ramaphosa said that "SANDF personnel would be used between July 15 and October 15 at an estimated cost of 984 million rand (US $ 66.3 million)," reads a letter sent to the speaker of parliament.

In the letter, Ramaphosa referred specifically to the authorization of the use of SANDF members and did not specify how many soldiers would be deployed on Mozambican soil.

The conflict in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado has displaced hundreds of thousands of people and paralyzed a natural gas project led by the French company Total Energies.

At the time The SADC countries authorized sending the bloc's readiness force they did not say how many troops would be involved.

Ramaphosa's letter said that South Africa's military would help Mozambique combat "acts of terrorism and violent extremists that have affected the Cabo Delgado area."