Suspected separatist fighters killed at least nine civilians and wounded two soldiers in an attack at a crowded market in Cameroon’s West region Tuesday, a local official told Xinhua.

David Dalor Dibango, the prefect of Bamboutos division, said the killings took place at 7 a.m., local time, in Bamenyam village in the Ngalim subdivision of the division.

Several civilians were wounded and houses were torched during the raid, Dibango told Chinese media outlet Xinhuanet over the phone after visiting the locality. “It is deplorable and unacceptable. We have reassured the people and asked them to stay calm. We will continue to investigate and arrest those responsible for this attack.”

Earlier, witnesses said that the fighters arrived at the market on motorcycles and started shooting indiscriminately.

Bamenyam village shares a border with the country’s Anglophone region of Northwest where an armed separatist conflict is ongoing. Separatist fighters regularly cross the border to attack civilians and soldiers in the Ngalim subdivision, according to security reports.

For the past six years, the separatist insurgency has devastated communities across Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions of Northwest and Southwest where separatists want to create an independent nation.

Source: Xinhuanet