YAOUNDE, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Two teachers were kidnapped early Monday in Cameroon's restive Anglophone region of Northwest, according to local and security sources.
Schools in the central African country resumed classes Monday for the last term of the academic year after a two-week holiday. The teachers were on their way to school when gunmen, identified by locals as separatist fighters, ambushed and abducted them in the region's Njap village.
"They (gunmen) took them (teachers) into the bush. They also torched about 13 commercial motorcycles that were carrying passengers," a local official, who asked not to be named for security reasons, told Xinhua.
The army said a search and rescue operation for the teachers was underway in the area.
Fighting between government forces and separatist fighters has persisted in Cameroon's two English-speaking regions of Northwest and Southwest since 2017 when separatists attempted to establish an independent nation in these regions.
Teachers and students are regularly abducted in the region, where separatists have warned government schools not to operate. ■