DOUALA (Reuters) – Unidentified men kidnapped 11 teachers on Tuesday from two schools in western Cameroon, where separatist insurgents are battling government forces, the church that runs the schools said.
The attacks in the town of Kumbo came 10 days after gunmen stormed a school in another western town, killing at least seven children. No one has claimed responsibility for either of the raids.
“They carted away a total of 11 teachers and dispersed the children to go home unhurt,” the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon said in a statement about Tuesday’s kidnapping.
More than 3,000 people have died since 2017 in the conflict between the Cameroonian government and English-speaking separatists who want to break away from the primarily French-speaking state.
Human rights groups say both sides have committed widespread atrocities, with the separatists often targeting schools that fail to comply with their demands to close.
(Reporting by Josiane Kouagheu; Writing by Aaron Ross; editing by Jane Wardell)
