Four Cameroon police killed by suspected separatist bomb -govt

June 16 (Reuters) - Cameroon's government said on Sunday
that separatists in its restive English-speaking region had
detonated an improvised explosive device that killed four police
and wounded six.
"The government condemns in the strongest terms this
criminal act, perpetrated by armed bandits and terrorists with
no faith or law," the statement said. It also said the attack
occurred along a road near the district of Eyumojock in the
south west of the country late on Saturday.
There was no immediate reaction or claim of responsibility
from any separatist group.
What began as peaceful protests in Cameroon's southwestern
Anglophone region in 2017 have degenerated into near daily
violence between the forces of Cameroon's mostly French-speaking
government and several separatist groups.
The English-speaking Northwest and Southwest of the country
complain of being marginalised by the French speaking majority.
It is rare but not unheard of for the separatists to use
bomb technology, but this would mark their first deadly strike
using a bomb.
The attack came after both sides claimed to be open to
dialogue, which rights groups doubt will happen under current
conditions. Prime Minister Joseph Ngute has said
the government would be willing to talk to the rebels, but would
not consider their demand for secession.
Eleven movements representing Anglophone Cameroon, including
the main armed factions, last month said they were willing to
enter mediated discussions with the state.
The United Nations estimates that, since 2017, about 1,800
people have been killed and more than 530,000 displaced with 1.3
million in need in the region.
Cameroon's linguistic divide has existed since the end of
World War One, when the League of Nations divided the former
German colony of Kamerun, in central Africa, between allied
victors, leaving most of Cameroon French-administered but a
small part run by Britain.