The Ministry of Defense said three soldiers were killed Friday in firing from Southern Cameroons restoration forces as tensions between Yaoundé and the Ambazonia Interim Government persist over reopening of schools.

Yaoundé initially reported four soldiers were killed and one wounded, but later said one of those believed to have died was resuscitated.

The ministry said government positions were hit in Kumbo the chief town in Bui Division.

While confrontations between the Francophone dominated Cameroon government military and Southern Cameroonian fighters are rare today, it cannot be said that the war, which has raged for more than six years is over.

The soldiers have been identified by Cameroon News Agency, a sister publication as Nupoh, Meka, and Njikam.

If the killings have reduced, it is more because government troops have been ordered not to kill like they used to kill in the past.

Their recklessness with their guns is to blame for the streams of blood which have flowed in the two English-speaking regions of the country.

Actions by Southern Cameroonian fighters are just acts of retaliation whenever the sex-starved, alcohol-inflamed and trigger-happy Francophone soldiers went on a killing spree.

The Southern Cameroons crisis which started as a protest by teachers and lawyers in 2016 has sent more than 7,000 Cameroonians to an early grave, with soldiers accounting for 40% of the deaths.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai