About 15 people were killed and several others injured on Wednesday in Bole-Bakundu, a locality in the Southern Zone of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, local sources said.

“I personally counted 15 dead bodies, men and women. All of them were shot in the market. They were not armed,” a local resident who asked not to be named hinted.

There were conflicting reports of who committed the act. Locals claimed that they were shot by government forces but the Biya Francophone government said they were killed in a clash between the military and armed separatists.

“They (separatists) blocked the road to the locality and the military opened fire to scare them. They retaliated and soldiers decided to invade the area. Most of those killed died in the crossfire,” a local official who preferred not to be named said. The French Cameroun army is yet to comment on the incident.

On Tuesday, at least four civilians were shot dead in the war-torn Southern Cameroons as armed Ambazonian Restoration Forces began what they called a “10-day lockdown”.

The Southern Cameroons Interim Government has banned all sorts of activities in the regions from Tuesday to Feb. 14 as a move to disrupt National Youth Day activities expected to be celebrated on Feb. 11.

Since November 2017, French Cameroun government forces have been clashing with armed Ambazonian Restoration forces who have seceded from the largely French-speaking nation and created a new country called “The Federal Republic of Ambazonia”.

By Sama Ernest with files from Xinhua