North West: At least three die as soldiers exchange gunshots over woman in Benakuma

At least two soldiers serving in Cameroon’s army have lost their lives fighting over a lady.

The gory incident happened on Saturday, January 22, in Benakuma, Menchum Valley Subdivision in the war-torn North West Region of Cameroon where they had been deployed.

One of the soldiers, Assomo is said to have found out his girlfriend was having a relationship with his colleague.

Enraged, the young soldier is said to have tortured her, before shooting her in the buttocks.

“When a colleague of his tried to salvage the situation, the irate soldier equally shot him. Falling, he immediately retaliated and shot his colleague point blank on the chest,” a source familiar with the story recounted.

The struggling soldier, our source added, shot a third soldier, probably out of fear.

One of the soldiers is said to have died shortly, while the other two and the girl later gave up the ghost in the hospital.

Other accounts reveal the love-drunk soldier, Assomo also shot the wife of a colleague in the leg and was neutralized by his own colleagues.

This, we gathered, is after their direct superior had scolded him for being disorderly.

The Cameroonian army has remained mute over the incident and the exact number of casualties is yet to be confirmed.

The Cameroon army is not new to such controversies and rugged behavior. In many instances especially since the outbreak of the armed conflict in the countryside’s Anglophone regions, they have come under the radar for gross rights violations including sexual abuses and rape.