Cameroon said on Friday that the commander of the Ambazonia Defense Force (ADF), popularly known as General Ivo, and three other armed separatists were killed early Friday in a clash in Teke, a remote locality in Southwest, one of the two English-speaking regions of the country.

“Chief terrorist called General Ivo was killed during an operation early this morning at Teke,” an army statement said. “His corpse has been brought to the military camp in Mabanda.”

The death was immediately confirmed by Ambazonia Governing Council (AGC), the main sponsor of ADF.

“This morning, one of Ambazonia’s bravest and finest breed was killed in action. General Ivo died in the battle of Teke,” AGC leader Ayaba Cho posted on his Facebook page.

There were conflicting reports about who killed the separatist leader. Locals told Xinhua he was killed when a local armed vigilante group attacked his camp but the army said he was killed by Cameroon’s elite Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR).

Ivo, one of the very first separatists who took up arms to fight the Cameroonian army, was controlling over 30 camps of armed separatists across the restive Anglophone regions, a military source told Xinhua.

ADF is among about 20 armed separatist groups, the source said.

Since November last year, government forces have been clashing with armed separatist forces who want the two regions to secede from the majority French-speaking nation and form a new country called “Ambazonia.”

Source: Xinhua