Yaoundé, November 25 (IANS). Cameroon’s security forces have attacked separatist positions in the country’s war-torn northwest region. Two separatist fighters, including a commander, were killed in this operation in the Anglophone region.
A military officer of the region, on condition of anonymity, said that this action was taken in the early hours of Sunday in Bamenda, the main city of the region.
The commander killed in the operation “regularly kidnapped civilians and demanded huge ransoms,” the official told Xinhua news agency by phone. He was responsible for the death of many soldiers and civilians.
Earlier on November 18, at least three people were killed in an attack by separatists in the north-western region. Local and security sources said the dead included one soldier and two civilians.
A security source in the area said the civilians were driving on the Ndu-Fomban road on Monday morning when they were ambushed by separatist fighters, Xinhua news agency reported.
According to the source, “They (civilians) gave a lift to the soldier. On the way, separatists hiding in the bushes fired on his car, killing three people and injuring two others.” Additional troops have been deployed on the road as there have been frequent attacks.
A separatist insurgency has been ongoing since 2017 in Cameroon’s two anglophone regions, Northwest and Southwest.
Armed separatists want to break away from largely French-speaking Cameroon and create an independent nation in the English-speaking regions of the northwest and southwest.
–IANS
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