Southern Cameroons Crisis: 7 kidnapped by suspected Amba fighters in Bangourain ⁰

Seven people were kidnapped by suspected separatist fighters in Cameroon’s West region, residents and security sources said Monday.

The abduction took place Sunday night in Bangourain, a locality in the Noun division of the West region, when armed men stormed a family compound.

“Those who were kidnapped are members of the same family,” a security source in the region said. “The Ambazonia fighters invaded their compound while they were asleep and took them away at gunpoint. We have launched a manhunt to rescue the hostages and capture the fighters.”

Cameroon’s West region shares a border with the English-speaking Northwest region, where an armed separatist conflict is ongoing. Ambazonia Restoration Forces regularly target civilians and soldiers in the neighboring French-speaking regions.

A separatist war has been raging in Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions of Northwest and Southwest, where separatists seek to create an independent nation known as the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

By Fon Lawrence with files