Why Suspected Separatist Fighters Executed Two Civilians In Bamenda Friday

Live was brought to a halt yesterday at Hospital Roundabout from 11:30am to 2pm after gunshots left a driver and another civilian, all Pinyin indigenes, dead.

They were all shot dead by suspected separatists.
Investigations have revealed that the shootings at Hospital Roundabout in Bamenda yesterday was orchestrated by separatist fighters who failed to kidnap a driver who plies the Bamenda-Pinyin Road. He was shot twice on the leg and on the side for resisting an abduction attempt and another person shot on the head by a stray bullet. The two victims all hail from Pinyin, Santa subdivision.

Eyewitness account hold that three separatist fighters arrived the area at about 11:30am on board a motor bike and tried to take away the said driver whose name can’t be gotten at press time. The said driver resisted and he was immediately shot twice.

Military Raid in Pinyin
Sources at the scene of the killings, predominantly Pinyin indigenes, have revealed that the slain driver must have been shot death because he was accused of being a black leg (either opposing the activities of separatist fighters or working as a spy for the military).

This comes days after hundreds of soldiers and para-military elements have been combing Pinyin, raiding the area where separatist fighters have been active.

It was made worst by an online notification last month that cars should stop plying the Bamenda-Bafoussam highway in preference to the Bamenda-Kumba highway.

Suspecting that Pinyin could be a hotspot for the planned attacks, a military offensive was launched in the area.

Separatist-Civilian Tussles In Bamenda
Of recent, the tides have changed in Bamenda like elsewhere in the region. Civilians who hitherto hailed and respected the fighters each time they carried out operations in town have had a new twist.

Civilians now seem to have decided not to swallow the bitter bill anymore but to spit it out.

In Nkwen, precisely at Mobile, about four fighter or gun carriers have lost their lives thanks to civilian collaboration.

Last week, two fighters who have repeatedly been liquidating some shops in the area met their Waterloo when a shop owner and his wife mobilized and caught them and raised an alarm. They were beaten and handed to the military and their corpses were later found at Sabga.

In Njinikom, Mendakwe and in Nkwen, the situation is the same. This seems to have angered the fighters and anyone who resists following the fighters to their camp is executed on the spot.