SAA event in Southwest Region, Buea area, Cameroon on Mon 29th January 2024

Several people are feared dead in a separatist attack that left at least three vehicles burned in Buea this Monday night.

Pictures and videos MMI received from citizen journalists showed the vehicles engulfed by flames amid heavy gunfire.

The vehicles were burned, particularly around St. Luke Junction along the Buea Central Market Road, after Ambazonia fighters stormed the area around 9 p.m., firing heavily.

A source on the ground has told MMI that the number of casualties is not yet ascertained, but about five people may have been killed in the attack. “So far, we hear five people have died, we might only have details in the morning. Everyone is so scared, and we are all indoors,” said our source.

No separatist group has yet claimed responsibility for the incident, which is the first notable gun shooting in Buea, headquarters of Cameroon’s embattled South West Region, this year.

Buea, fondly called the “City of Legendary Hospitality,” has been relatively calm since a separatist attack in the Muea neighbourhood claimed three lives on September 7, 2023.

The separatists who have been fighting for a separate state called Ambazonia in the English-speaking Regions have launched sporadic attacks on Buea in the past, with several of them aimed at reinforcing the Monday ghost towns and lockdowns.

It remains unclear what provoked today’s attack.