Five students and two lawyers were abducted early Friday in the two war-torn Cameroon English-speaking regions of Northwest and Southwest, according to local authorities.

The students were kidnapped from a private secondary school in Bamenda of Northwest. The two lawyers were abducted in Buea of Southwest, according to local authorities.

“The students were on their way to school when they were kidnapped and the lawyers were abducted at the Mile 16 neighbourhood in Buea by heavily armed men.”

It is still unclear who kidnapped the students and the lawyers. A “thorough” search by police and army for the abductees is in progress in the two regions according to the source.

An armed conflict is ongoing in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions where separatists claim that they want to create a new nation called “Ambazonia.”

Cases of kidnapping have become rampant in the regions since the conflict started in 2017. Cameroon government has blamed armed separatists for the abductions, but the separatists claim that the government is staging the kidnappings to tarnish their image internationally.

Source: Xinhuanet