78 school students kidnapped in Cameroon; gov't launches search
Seventy-nine school students were kidnapped on
Tuesday in an English-speaking region of Cameroon where separatists are
fighting an armed campaign for independence, a government source said.
The students were abducted along with their
principal, a teacher and a driver, the official said, as a source at the school
confirmed the kidnapping of the pupils.
They were enrolled at the Presbyterian Secondary
School in Bamenda, capital of Cameroon's Northwest Region—one of two regions
hit by attacks by anglophone militants that have met with a brutal crackdown by
the authorities.
"The search for the hostages has been
launched—every man has been called in," the government source said,
speaking after a crisis meeting.
The kidnapping—the gravest incident so far in 13
months of unrest —coincides with an upsurge of political tensions in the majority
French-speaking country.
It comes after elections on October 7 that saw
President Paul Biya, 85, who has ruled the country with an iron fist for 35
years, secure a seventh term in office.
