Gunman Kills Seven Villagers in Northeast Cameroon

On Thursday, a gunman on the loose killed seven people and critically injured two more in four communities in northern Cameroon, according to a local administrator and state media.

According to a statement made by Yves Bertrand Awounfac Alienou, the prefect of the Vina department in the northern area of Adamawa, this "lone shooter, with an AK47-type weapon and four magazines loaded on both sides of his belt, opened fire on the innocent people" of four villages.

According to Awounfac Alienou, the attacks took place on Monday, leaving "seven persons dead and two critically injured" - a figure corroborated by state television station Cameroon Radio-Television (CRTV).

Four of the victims died on the scene, while three were brought to the hospital with injuries, according to CRTV, and the shooter is "nowhere to be found."

There has been no information disclosed concerning the gunman's motivations. Security authorities are on the lookout for the gunman, according to Awounfac Alienou, who also urged the public to "mobilise massively...in self-defence organisations to hunt him down."

Adamawa, which borders the Central African Republic and Chad, has been the site of frequent kidnappings and ransom demands in the past. The military has blamed criminal groups from both nations, as well as northern Cameroon, for the kidnappings, which are on the decline.

An operation to combat kidnappings was launched more than two years ago and 46 hostages were released between 2018 and 2020, according to an assessment by the Rapid Intervention Battalion, an elite army unit deployed in the region.