Armed Raid Leaves Four Dead in Northwest Cameroon

Cameroonian elite Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR) members patrol the abandoned village of Elona on October 4, 2018 [Reuters/Zohra Bensemra]

NTUMBAW, Cameroon – At least four civilians were killed and several others wounded in a violent nighttime attack in the village of Ntumbaw, located in the Ndu municipality of Cameroon’s volatile Northwest region.

Authorities report that armed men stormed a residential area on the night of Sunday, February 8, opening fire on the occupants before fleeing the scene. Local authorities condemned the “barbaric” assault, and the mayor of Ndu, Abdou Kanfon Borno, identified the dead as “martyrs for peace and security.”

The attack is the latest episode of violence related to the ongoing Anglophone Crisis, a separatist conflict that has plagued Anglophone regions since 2017. While pro-independence accounts sometimes blame the military, the mainstream press describes the perpetrators as unidentified gunmen. No group has claimed responsibility.

The insecurity continued on Monday, with clashes in the regional capital, Bamenda, resulting in the death of at least one commercial motorcyclist, raising the regional death toll to at least five in a 24-hour period.

Since the start of the conflict, thousands have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced, with civilians often caught between government forces and separatist fighters.