Gunmen killed 10 people and injured two others at a busy junction in Bamenda, in Cameroon’s troubled northwest, the regional governor said on Monday.
A witness said the attackers arrived in vehicles late on Sunday, ordered people onto the floor, and accused them of failing to support local separatists. They opened fire as some obeyed while others ran.
The Ambazonia Defence Forces (ADF), the main separatist group in the English-speaking region that has been fighting since 2017 in protest of alleged marginalization by the majority French-speaking government, denied responsibility.
North West region governor Adolphe Lele Lafrique told the Reuters news agency a manhunt had been launched for the “terrorists” behind the massacre. “Investigations are underway, and we will issue a statement later today,” he added.
The witness said men in military uniforms arrived in two vehicles to storm Nacho Junction, where restaurants, bars, and shops are located, at around 7:30 p.m. (18:30 GMT).
They shot at people indiscriminately, the witness said, before taking off. “There is the possibility that it could be revenge killing,” ADF spokesperson Lucas Asu said, suggesting the attackers could have been disguised as separatist fighters.
Discrepancies between the French and English academic, legal, and administrative systems, which have always existed concurrently, as well as cries of political and economic marginalization, crystallized into a series of protests and riots in 2016.
The violent suppression of those protests has led to a full-blown conflict that has killed more than 6,000 people in Anglophone Cameroon since.
Earlier this month, human rights group Amnesty International slammed government troops, militias, and separatists for killings, rapes, torture, and burning of houses, among other atrocities, in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions.
More than 6,000 people have died in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions since 2016, when protests against cries of marginalization turned violent. On a larger scale, this division issue has raised some serious questions about the potency of the Cameroonian military and government.
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