Cameroonian soldiers have reportedly shot dead three men and a woman in Kumbo, an embattled town in the country’s North West Region, where armed conflict has been raging for nearly seven years now.
Reports say the civilians were ambushed at a checkpoint erected by Ambazonia separatist fighters in a locality called Kiyan on Wednesday, February 7.
Soldiers had reportedly taken cover near the building that separatists were using as a checkpoint and opened fire on the civilians who had come to the separatists to resolve a land dispute.
Separatist fighters were not in the building at the time of the shooting, according to reports.
Among those killed were a man named Linus, his relative Michelle, a local bricklayer known as Paparuti, and a man named Musa.
Linus reportedly had a land dispute with Michelle, and they reported the matter to separatists, who promised to hear the case on that Wednesday.
Informed about the developments, the military reportedly took cover near the building where the matter was going to be tried while waiting for separatist fighters.
Unfortunately, they opened fire when Linus and Michelle arrived at the venue that morning, killing them both.
Two other civilians who were around the venue were also caught in the gunfire.
The incident added to a series of civilian deaths recorded in the English-speaking Regions of Cameroon this year, as the Anglophone Crisis promises no end in sight.
A day after the incident, separatist fighters in Kumbo attacked the military at Kishong village, on the outskirts of the town and reportedly killed two soldiers.
There has been no official information from Cameroonian authorities regarding the recent happenings in Kumbo.
The town, located in the Bui Division of the North West Region, is home to a number of powerful separatist groups, which are part of a network of fighters across the North West and South pushing for independence.
The armed struggle and frequent clashes with the Cameroon military have left thousands of civilians dead and hundreds of thousands displaced since 2017.
