Five military police killed in western Cameroon

Five Cameroon military police have been killed in an attack on Tuesday night in the western region of Cameroon, bordering a province where separatists are fighting for a breakaway state, the regional governor said on Wednesday.

The attack took place in Njitapon in the district of Kouoptamo, in the West French-speaking region bordering the two Anglophone regions where rebels have been fighting against the French-speaking majority state since 2016.

The governor of the West region, Augustine Fonka Awa, confirmed the attack without giving further details.

While violence is common in the two Anglophone regions, the separatists rarely wage attacks beyond them.

The conflict stems from the perceived marginalisation of Cameroon’s Anglophone community by the French-speaking majority.

The fighting has killed more than 3,000 people and displaced nearly a million, with atrocities reportedly committed by both sides.

On Tuesday, the government made a rare admission that four soldiers killed nine villagers including an 18-month-old girl, in a “manifestly disproportionate” and “hasty” response to a confrontation in northwest Cameroon.