Cameroon rescues more kidnapped children

The Cameroonian military on Wednesday rescued at least nine schoolchildren and their teacher a day after armed gunmen kidnapped them in the English-speaking Southwest Region. Nto’ou Ndong Chamberlin, a local official, said the gunmen stormed the Lord Bilingual School in Kumba on Tuesday morning and abducted the students. The military rescued three of the children late Tuesday and freed the remaining six and their wounded teacher Wednesday. The teacher is receiving treatment at a hospital in Kumba. “Two of the terrorists were killed yesterday and two others early today,” Chamberlin said, adding the military also destroyed the militants’ camp.

The ongoing unrest in Cameroon’s Northwest and Southwest regions began in 2016 when English-speaking lawyers and teachers protested to demand more representation in schools and courts. Armed separatists have since sprung up and earlier this month kidnapped 80 children and two teachers from a Presbyterian school in the Northwest Region.