Cameroon officials have confirmed the abduction of 166 school children and their teachers by unknown gunmen.
Cameroon’s Ministry of Defence has however said that the school kids and their teachers were freed after being held briefly by the gunmen on Saturday in the town of Kumbo.
The gunmen kidnapped the children and their teachers from a Catholic school in the Kumbo Township.
Managers of the school reportedly negotiated for the release of the school children, securing their freedom on Sunday.
Last year a similar abduction of school children was executed by separatist fighters. That abduction happened in the Kumba town in the South-West Region.
Security forces reportedly clashed with the abductors who were separatists fighting for independence in the restive English-speaking part of Cameroon.
There are no clear explanations for the abduction but Africafeeds.com understands it might be linked to ongoing conflicts between separatists demanding independence and government forces.
Agitations continue to grow in Anglophone Cameroon where separatists are fighting for independence. That has come with a lot of violence.
These separatists complain about marginalization and discrimination from the majority French-speaking side of Cameroon.