YAOUNDE, Aug. 12– At least 13 people were abducted Tuesday on the Batibo-Mamfe road in Cameroon’s troubled Northwest Region, local residents and security sources said Wednesday.
Armed men stopped a passenger bus and ordered everyone on board to get out. Witnesses said the attackers took money and personal belongings before forcing 13 people into the bush.
“It was terrifying. They stopped our bus at gunpoint and made everyone get down. They took everything we had and took 13 people away with them. Some of us were lucky they didn’t take us too,” one passenger, who asked not to be named, told Xinhua by telephone.
The same source said the kidnappers are demanding a ransom for the release of the hostages.
Kidnappings for ransom are frequent in the English-speaking Northwest Region, where separatist fighters have been clashing with government forces in a campaign for independence. Police said travelers are regularly targeted by suspected separatist gunmen. (Namibia Daily News / Xinhua)
