Government says armed “terrorists” attacked a convoy of elite rapid intervention forces in the northwest region on September 16. 

The Cameroun Defense Ministry declared that fifteen soldiers of an elite rapide intervention forces at Bamessinga in the Northwest Region on September 16. Several  civilians have also died in two attacks in English-speaking western areas of Cameroon in the grip of a breakaway campaign.

The Ministry further declared that « the insurgents immobilised and attacked with heavy fire the vehicles of the convoy using IED (improvised explosive devices) and an anti-tank rocket launcher» .

Another IED hit a military convoy at Kumbo, in the same region, on September 12.

The Defense Ministry noted “the existence of links and exchanges of sophisticated weaponry” between “secessionist terrorists” and “other terrorist entities operating beyond the borders”, including hardline groups.

The more-than-four-year-old Anglophone conflict in Cameron began when governmental forces used deadly force to repress peaceful rallies organised  by lawyers and teachers protesting against perceived marginalization of the country’s majority Francophone government. In response to this, dozens of armed separatist groups formed to fight for an independent nation they called Ambazonia.

More than 700,000 people fled their homes, according to the UN. Some 4,000 have been killed in the conflict.

In addition to separatists, rights groups have said that abuses have been committed by security forces.

Government forces have raided villages, burning homes and arbitrarily arresting and killing dozens of civilians, according to local and international NGOs.

In Bamenda, the capital of the Northwest region, armed groups have choked off the city by taking control of most of its main access roads, according to a recent UN report.