Issa Tchiroma confirms killing of 2 police officers at Otu border post ⁰

Two police officers were killed by suspected separatists in a restive English-speaking region of Cameroon, the authorities said Thursday, raising to 10 the total number of security officials who have died in attacks this month.

“Two police were killed overnight at a border post in Southwest Region,” said government spokesman Issa Tchiroma Bakary, blaming English-speaking separatists.

Another police officer and a soldier were wounded in the attack. Bakary said a group of police and soldiers were carrying out “routine checks and searches” during the night when they were ambushed by gunmen.

A regional police source said the attack took place in Otu, which is in the same region where four soldiers from the army’s motorized infantry battalion were killed early on Wednesday. The ambush brought to 10 the total of security forces killed in suspected separatist attacks since the start of the month. Five were police and five soldiers.

The bloodshed is the latest episode in an escalating crisis in the Southwest and Northwest regions, home to a large minority of English-speakers in the francophone-majority nation. Resentment among Anglophones over perceived discrimination has fed a spiral of political demands and also a government crackdown, leading to calls for secession.

Source:  AFP