Police officer killed, teachers kidnapped in Cameroon attack

A police officer was killed and five teachers kidnapped in an attack on a teacher training centre in Cameroon, local authorities said on Wednesday, in the latest violence to hit the country’s English-speaking west.

A deadly conflict between government forces and separatist groups has gripped the two anglophone regions of Cameroon, which is predominantly French-speaking, for nearly a decade.

A group of armed individuals “infiltrated” a teacher training centre in the town of Wum, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of Bamenda, the capital of Northwest region, on Tuesday morning, regional governor Adolphe Lele Lafrique said in a statement sent to AFP on Wednesday.

A police officer on the scene tried to intervene and stop the group.

“The armed individuals unleashed a hail of bullets on him, killing him instantly, and took five teachers with them to an unknown location,” the governor said, adding that security forces are hunting the attackers.

In late 2016, the government violently put down protests in the anglophone regions.

Teachers and lawyers were objecting to the francophone authorities’ growing grip on the education and legal systems of the two English-speaking regions, where 20 percent of Cameroon’s population lives.

Following the crackdown, a conflict broke out in 2017 between separatists and the government in Yaounde. Civilians fell victim to extortion, kidnappings for ransom and violence.

At least 6,000 have died since 2016, according to the UN.

More than 330,000 people were internally displaced in Cameroon in 2025 and over 100,000 others fled to neighbouring Nigeria.