MAPUTO — Mozambican troops battled Islamist insurgents in a northern town on Monday close to billion-dollar gas projects being developed by Exxon Mobil and Total, the authorities said.

The general commander of the Mozambique’s police, Bernardino Rafael, said the insurgents had attacked the town, Mocimboa da Praia, and an army barracks there before dawn, wounding dozens of people.

Mocimboa da Praia is just south of the Afungi Peninsula, where gas projects worth $60 billion are located.

The town is strategically important to the projects. Until recently it was the location of the main airport for workers traveling to the site, before a landing strip was built at Afungi itself. And its port is used for some cargo deliveries for the projects.