8 Die from Alleged Separatist Attack in Cameroon

By Xinhua 

November 21, 2023

Suspected separatist fighters killed at least eight civilians in an attack at a crowded market in Cameroon’s West region on Tuesday, according to local authorities and witnesses.

The killings took place in Bamenyam village located in Ngalim subdivision of the region, the region’s governor, Augustine Awa Fonka, told reporters.

Witnesses told Xinhua that the fighters arrived at the market on board motorcycles and started shooting indiscriminately. Several people were injured and at least 10 others abducted after the shooting, Fonka said.

Bamenyam village shares a border with the country’s Anglophone region of Northwest where an armed separatist conflict is ongoing. Separatist fighters regularly cross the border to attack civilians and soldiers in Ngalim subdivision, according to security reports.

For the past six years, the separatist insurgency has devastated communities across Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions of Northwest and Southwest where separatists want to create an independent nation.