YAOUNDE, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Four people, including three civilians and a separatist fighter, were killed as violence escalated in Cameroon's restive Anglophone region, security sources said Sunday.
Separatist fighters opened fire on a vehicle on a highway in Ekona, a locality in the Southwest Region, on Saturday, killing the driver and two passengers, a security official in the region said.
"They were driving to a town called Kumba when the separatist terrorists killed them. The terrorists said they disrespected a lockdown order," the official told Xinhua by phone.
Government forces pursued the fighters after the shooting, leading to a clash that left one separatist fighter dead and several others injured, the official said.
Fighting has intensified in the English-speaking Northwest and Southwest regions since Monday, after separatists declared a week-long lockdown to disrupt the reopening of schools.
Separatist groups have been clashing with government forces since 2017 in a bid to create an independent state in the two regions. ■
