Cameroon: Over 80 people kidnapped in Bamenda

Cameroon’s military said on Monday more than 80 people, mostly children, were kidnapped from a school in the city of Bamenda, located in the Anglophone Northwest region.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the abduction in the English-speaking region where separatists are fighting to form a breakaway state.

The separatists have imposed curfews and closed down schools as part of their protest against President Paul Biya’s French-speaking government.

“In total 81 people were kidnapped including the principal. They were taken to the bush,” a military source told Reuters.

ALSO READ: Cameroon begins in-camera trial for secessionist leaders over Anglophone crisisA government spokesman said it was keeping track of an event but that it could not comment further.

The separatist movement gathered pace in 2017 after a government crackdown on peaceful demonstrations. Many people have fled Bamenda and other centres to seek refuge in more peaceful Francophone regions.