A doctor in western Cameroon said 19 runners were receiving treatment after being injured Saturday by several small explosions during a running race in the area where Anglophone separatists are fighting government forces.
There was no comment from the authorities in the town of Buea in the southwest region of the country, where 529 athletes were running to climb the highest mountain in West and Central Africa as part of the Cameroon Mountain Race for Hope.
The armed wing of the Governing Council of Ambazonia, one of the separatist militia groups, claimed responsibility for the blasts.
"Our main target was the Cameroonian elite forces who were in charge of securing the athletes. We will not allow Cameroon to continue occupying," the group's spokesman, Cabo Daniel, told Reuters.
"Nineteen injured athletes have been transferred to our facility. We have taken the necessary medical measures for three of them. Their condition is stable and we have not recorded any deaths," Martin Mukaki, director of Buea Regional Hospital, told Reuters by phone.
Athletes from East, Central, and North Africa and France participated in the race.
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