Militants kill 4 soldiers in southwestern Cameroon

By Peter Kum

YAOUNDE, Cameroon (AA) - At least four Cameroonian soldiers were killed in an attack on their post in Southwest Region of the country, an administrative official said Wednesday.

"They were surprised by suspected militants who slaughtered them and took away weapons," Oum II Joseph, prefect of the Ndian division, told Anadolu Agency.

He added that the bodies have been transported to the Mamfe hospital morgue and the army has launched an investigation to track the attackers.

The government spokesman declined to comment on the incident when Anadolu Agency contacted him.

"The government will consult before making a statement," Issa Tchiroma Bakary said.

Attacks against military personnel are rampant in the Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon’s English speaking regions.

The two regions have lived for more than a year in a state of unrest, witnessing strikes and demonstrations, denouncing discrimination against the Anglophone minority in favor of the Francophone majority.

Violence left dozens of protesters dead and over 100 injured in October after tens of thousands of people began a peaceful march to proclaim the independence of western Cameroon, also known as Ambazonia, according to International Crisis Group, a non-profit organization which works to prevent conflict.

French Cameroon gained its independence from France in 1960. In 1961, a federal state was set up when British Cameroon broke away from Great Britain and joined French Cameroon. The federal state was later dissolved in favor of a unitary state in 1972.

Since then, English-speakers say they have been marginalized, forced to use French in public institutions and schools, and use the French-Cameroon legal system.