English-speaking Cameroon: a burnt church, 8 hostages including five priests

Five Catholic priests, a nun and two worshipers were kidnapped by unidentified people who set fire to a church on Friday in western Cameroon plagued by a bloody war between English-speaking separatists and the army, the Catholic Church announced on Sunday.

Murders, lootings and kidnappings are frequent in this region, where armed separatist groups regularly target schools and teachers in particular, but also the Catholic and Protestant Churches and their prelates.

But local bishops say Friday's kidnapping is "

" in its scale.

In the evening, the church of St Mary of Nchang was "

", deplores the Episcopal Conference of the Province of Bamenda in a press release received on Sunday by the AFP, without further details.

Nchang is a village located in the Southwest region.

Archbishop Andrew Nkea, signatory of the press release, does not give any details about the attack, does not attribute it to anyone in particular and assures that the kidnappers gave "

" for this act.

A very deadly six-year-old conflict

The attack and the kidnappings have not been claimed, but they are frequently perpetrated by separatist groups and most often end in the release of hostages for ransom or after negotiations with local traditional and religious leaders.

The North-West and South-West regions, populated mainly by Cameroon's English-speaking minority, have been the scene for nearly six years of a very deadly conflict between armed groups demanding the independence of a state they call "

" and security forces massively deployed by the power of President Paul Biya, 89, who has ruled Cameroon with an iron fist for nearly 40 years.

Read alsoCameroon: more than 30 villagers killed in intercommunity fighting

The two camps are regularly accused by international NGOs and the UN of committing crimes and atrocities against civilians, the main victims of this war, and Mr. Biya of being intransigent and carrying out relentless repression, in English-speaking Cameroon but also against any political opposition in the country.

Part of the English-speaking population feels ostracized by the English-speaking majority, which dominates the central power.

The conflict has killed more than 6,000 people since the end of 2016 and forced more than a million people to move, according to the International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank.