South West Region: Military gunfire leaves two kids dead in Ekombe

The Cameroon military is once more being accused of killing at least two teenagers in Ekombe, about 7 miles away from Kumba in the South West Region.

The two victims, Precious Ugochi Okudah and Chinasa Okudah, both under the age of 15, were killed, sources say, as the military rained bullets at the shop where they sought coverage.

According to a relative of the victims, soldiers heading to Kumba came across a bridge where explosive devices had been planted targeting them in Ekombe.

“Although none of them got hurt by the detonation of the explosive, they angrily decided to enter the town shooting randomly for about four hours” he recounted.

Talking to MMI, he said at the time the shooting started, the victims were in a shop with a young boy hiding.

“It was after the shooting spree had subsided that the girls opened the shop to peep how the atmosphere was outside. Unluckily for them, the soldiers saw the girls running back into the shop,” he said

“The military followed the girls to the shop and started firing bullets into the shop where the children were hidden. One of the kids was hit by a bullet in head and died immediately. My niece was hit in the stomach by a bullet. She bled but did not die immediately. She was taken to a health establishment along the Buea road, where she gave up the ghost after losing a lot of blood” he said.

The third boy who was equally in the shop was lucky to have been shot only on his arm and is recovering at the moment from his injury, reports say.

The deceased girls have been kept at the mortuary. Sources say plans are being made for their bodies to be transported to Nigeria where they hail from.

The President of the Nigerian Union in Ekombe, MMI gathered, was informed about the situation, and relayed the news to the Nigerian Consulate in Buea with a complaint.

The victims’ loved ones have been inconsolable since the tragedy.