Cameroon: 22 killed in attack on a village in the northwestern state

The opposition blames the government for the massacre, which killed both children and women, some burned alive. The French-speaking state security forces and separatists in the English-speaking area have been fighting hard in recent years

Cameroon: 22 killed in attack on a village in the northwestern state

22 people were killed in an attack on a village in northwestern Cameroon - UN sources said. More than half of those killed in Natombo were children, and some of the victims were burned alive. The opposition blamed the army for the attack, but a military official denied it to the French news agency. You have been fighting separatists in the area for the past three years.

James Noonan, a member of the United Nations Humanitarian Coordination Agency, told the BBC that between the dead, a woman was pregnant and 14 of the children killed were nine under five. He said the attack "terrified" the local population. "The people we talked to very traumatically, they didn't expect it."

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Thousands were displaced from their homes. Cameroonian soldier (Photo: Reuters)

Cameroon Army soldier at guard post near Nigeria border, February 18, 2015 (Photo: Reuters)

The conflict centers in northwest Cameroon, where most of the population speaks English because of its colonial ties to Britain. Armed separatist groups launched an uprising in 2017 after violent repression by security forces. Separatists have declared independence for a new country they call Amazonia, but Cameron's ruler for the last 40 years Paul Bea calls them "terrorists."

More than 3,000 people have been killed since the fighting broke out, and at least 70,000 people have been displaced from their homes. The Cameroonian government has been accused of human rights abuses during the conflict, and U.S. President Donald Trump has canceled special state trade benefits. The government says separatists have killed dozens of civilians and security forces, but there are no official figures for civilians and separatists killed by government forces.