Cameroon’s army said on Tuesday that its troops had killed five separatist fighters in the country’s English-speaking region of Southwest, where a prolonged armed separatist conflict has been in progress.

The Rapid Intervention Battalion, the country’s elite force, raided a hideout of the fighters in the Mofako Butu locality of the region late Monday.

Among those killed was a dreaded separatist commander who called himself “General Bitter Cola,” said Chamberlin Ntou’ou Ndong, senior divisional officer for Meme division where the hideout was located.

“He terrorised civilians, killing many. We are calling on all other fighters still in the bush to drop their weapons and embrace peace,” Ndong said.

The Separatists have been fighting to create an independent nation in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions of the Northwest and Southwest since 2017. (Xinhua/NAN)