5 pupils die in Cameroon

DOUALA: Five pupils are missing after gunmen attacked a high school in an English-speaking part of Cameroon, severely injuring the principal, sources said on Tuesday.

The attackers targeted a school in Bafut, a town near Bamenda -- the capital of the secessionist North-West region -- on Monday, the first day of the new academic year, a witness told AFP.

A source close to the school’s administration confirmed the report. Seven pupils and the school principal were initially reported missing after the attack. Two youngsters and the headmaster were later released, though the principal was seriously injured, the school source said.

Separatist unrest in Cameroon’s two minority English-speaking regions -- North-West and South-West -- has left scores dead and displaced about 200,000 people since late 2016. Years of resentment at perceived discrimination at the hands of Cameroon’s majority French speakers have led to almost daily acts of violence and retribution, triggering an army crackdown. A total of 109 members of the police and security forces have been killed, according to government figures. The separatists, who say the education system marginalises anglophone pupils, have decreed a boycott of schools in the areas they lay claim to.