More than 80 people, mostly schoolchildren, kidnapped in Cameroon: Reports

[ PLEASE SEE ADS IN MY BLOGS [www.atozkerala.in , www.atozkerala.blogspot.com] CAMEROON: More than 80 people, mostly children, were kidnapped from a school in the city of Bamenda in western Cameroon early on Monday, government and military sources said. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the abduction in the English-speaking region where separatists are fighting to form a breakaway state. The separatists have imposed curfews and closed down schools as part of their protest against President Paul Biya's French-speaking government. "In total 81 people were kidnapped including the [school] principal. They were taken to the bush," a military source told Reuters. A government spokesman said it was keeping track of an event but that it could not comment further. The separatist movement gathered pace in 2017 after a government crackdown on peaceful demonstrations. Many people have fled Bamenda and other centres to seek refuge in more peaceful Francophone regions.