In Cameroon, ten people were killed on the night of Sunday July 16 to Monday July 17 in Bamenda, capital of the English-speaking northwest region. The attack is attributed to unidentified armed assailants, whose modus operandi is undoubtedly that of the separatists, according to local authorities.
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With our correspondent in Yaoundé, Richard Onanena
According to testimonies collected on the spot, the assailants, dressed in military fatigues, landed at the Nacho crossroads, a busy popular artery in Bamenda. They called the victims “pieds noirs” in English, which means “traitor” according to the local language, before killing them in cold blood.
The victims, all civilians according to the authorities, were going about their business. Adolphe Lele Lafrique, governor of the north-west region, draws up a terrible assessment:
” Ten people died, including two in hospital and eight others at the site of these macabre events. Two other people were admitted to hospital: one was released and the other is currently in intensive care. I would therefore like to reassure the people that measures have been taken to find the perpetrators and punish them in accordance with the laws and regulations of the Republic. »
The attack has not been claimed, but according to the governor, it is undoubtedly the work of an “armed terrorist group”. He took the opportunity to invite the people to continue to go about his activities in Bamenda, but also throughout the northwestern region, while waiting for the attackers to be identified.
Since 2016 the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon have been plagued by a conflict between separatists and the regular army. The crisis has claimed more than 6,000 lives according to NGOs.
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