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  World   Africa  05 Nov 2018  81 people, mostly children, kidnapped from Cameroon school: Officials

81 people, mostly children, kidnapped from Cameroon school: Officials

REUTERS
Published : Nov 5, 2018, 6:53 pm IST
Updated : Nov 5, 2018, 9:23 pm IST

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the abduction in the region where separatists are fighting to form a breakaway state.

A government spokesman said it was keeping track of an event but that it could not comment further. (Representational image | AP)
 A government spokesman said it was keeping track of an event but that it could not comment further. (Representational image | AP)

Yaoundé: More than 80 people, mostly children, were kidnapped from a school in the city of Bamenda in western Cameroon early on Monday, government and military sources said.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the abduction in the English-speaking region where separatists are fighting to form a breakaway state.

The separatists have imposed curfews and closed down schools as part of their protest against President Paul Biya’s French-speaking government.

“In total 81 people were kidnapped including the [school] principal. They were taken to the bush,” a military source told Reuters.

A government spokesman said it was keeping track of an event but that it could not comment further.

The separatist movement gathered pace in 2017 after a government crackdown on peaceful demonstrations. Many people have fled Bamenda and other centres to seek refuge in more peaceful Francophone regions.

Tags: cameroon, school students kidnapped
Location: Cameroon, Centre, Yaoundé