Troops loyal to the Biya Francophone regime in Yaounde have launched an operation to hunt separatist fighters who are suspected to have killed five security forces in the country’s war-torn Anglophone region of Northwest, several security sources said.

Two soldiers and three gendarmes were killed Wednesday after their vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device planted along the region’s Wum-Bafut road, an army official in the region told Xinhua.

“They were brave soldiers who died in active service,” said the official, who asked not to be named.

“Our brave forces are on the field to ensure that an operation to find and capture these terrorists is a success. We will surely get them, and they will pay for their crime,” the official added.

On Thursday, residents of Mbakong village, where the device was detonated, said that troops were conducting “a thorough search” in the locality.

There has been fighting between government forces and separatist fighters in Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions of Northwest and Southwest since 2017.

Source: Xinuanet