Dozens of people, mostly school pupils, have been kidnapped from a school in the west of Cameroon.

At least 78 students and three others, including the school principal, were abducted on Monday morning in Bamenda, the capital of the North-West region, a government official has told the BBC.

Regional governor Adolphe Lele L'Afrique blamed separatist militias.

Cameroon's North-West and South-West regions have been hit by a secessionist rebellion in recent years.

Militias, who have been demanding the independence of the two English-speaking regions, have called for a school boycott.

But no group has said it carried out the kidnapping at Bamenda's Presbyterian Secondary School, which has pupils aged between 10 and 14.

'Praying for the kidnapped'

The moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon, the Right Reverend Fonki Samuel Forba told the BBC that he had spoken to the kidnappers.

"They don't want any ransom. All they want is for us to close the schools. We have promised to close down the schools," he told the BBC.

"We hope and pray they release the kids and the teachers," he added.

It is not the first time students have been abducted in the area, known to be a stronghold of separatist fighters, reports the BBC's Ngala Killian Chimtom.

On 19 October, five students of the Atiela Bilingual High School were taken by unidentified gunmen. Their whereabouts are still unknown.

The separatists say that the Cameroon school system suppresses the English-speaking system that the North-West and South-West regions inherited from the British. (BBC)

• Cameroon’s Presbyterian Secondary School, Nkwen, where the abduction of students, school principal took place