Gunmen abducted at least 14 road construction workers in Cameroon’s war-torn Anglophone region of Northwest on Friday, according to a local official.

Abdou Borno Kamfon, mayor of Ndu Council of the region said the workers were rehabilitating a bad stretch of road in Mbusoh locality when armed men came and seized them.

“They were sent there by the Ndu Council to repair the road. We do not know their whereabouts yet. We are still trying to secure their release,” Kamfon told Xinhua by phone.

The road is a deviation regularly used by passengers who are escaping from armed separatists who had blocked the main road for over four years now, according to locals.

The Cameroon army is conducting a rescue mission to secure the safe release of the hostages, local authorities said.

Abductions are common in the region where the army and armed separatists have been clashing since 2017.

The separatists want to create an independent nation they called “Ambazonia” in Cameroon’s two Anglophone regions of Northwest and Southwest.

Source: Xinhuanet