At least 97 Southern Cameroon civilians were arrested in Bonakanda in Fako Division by gendarmerie officers from the Buea legion, Barrister Lyonga Ewule confirmed on Saturday through a statement released by Legend Law Offices, as Vice President Dabney Yerima of the Ambazonia Interim Government ordered an investigation into the latest in a series of such deadly raids in Anglophone zones.

Cameroon Intelligence Report gathered from an official in the governor’s office in Buea that the raid on Bonakanda took place late on Saturday night while residents were preparing for Sunday church services.

At least 20 of the men arrested were humiliated in front of their wives and children and several were given haircut with broken bottles, Barrister Lyonga Ewule said in the statement.

Since 2016, hundreds of Southern Cameroon civilians have been arrested by the Francophone dominated Cameroon government military on lame and ridiculous reasons that the military is targeting armed groups in the deadly security crisis in English speaking Cameroon.

“The incidence of continued arrest of innocent Southern Cameroonians is assuming a worrisome dimension in Ambazonia,” said Dabney Yerima, the current vice-president of the Ambazonia Interim Government.

Francophone gendarmes often conduct raids on many Southern Cameroons villages leaving civilian casualties.

Barrister Lyonga revealed that among those arrested were two disable and two Autistic persons identified as Lisongo Njume and Emmanuel Nyoki.

By Rita Akana and Kingsley Betek in Buea