A police officer was killed and several teachers were abducted on Tuesday, September 8, in Wum, the capital of Menchum division in Cameroon’s English-speaking Northwest region. The attack unfolded in two nearly simultaneous stages, according to the account given by local authorities.
A group of armed men first stormed the Government Technical Teachers’ Training College that morning, a teacher-training center located about eighty kilometers north of Bamenda, the regional capital. The assailants abducted several teachers there, with most sources putting the number at five hostages, three women and two men, though some Cameroonian outlets report six people were taken.
At the same time, the convoy of the Menchum divisional officer, who was on a routine tour to check on the smooth start of the school year, was ambushed on the road leading to the school. According to Northwest Governor Adolphe Lele Lafrique, the lead vehicle came under heavy gunfire. The Special Branch commissioner riding in it, identified as Mbah Tobie Damas, was fatally shot while trying to intervene. The attackers then fled into the surrounding forest with their hostages, toward a destination that remains unknown.
Defense and security forces have since launched a search operation to try to locate the armed group and free the abducted teachers, though no results have been reported so far.
The attack came a day after the start of the 2026-2027 school year, amid already heightened tensions, with separatist leaders having called for a disruption of activities to derail the reopening of schools. Cameroon’s Northwest and Southwest regions have been the theater of an armed conflict since 2017, pitting government forces against separatist groups seeking to create an independent state called Ambazonia. The crisis traces back to 2016 protests led by English-speaking lawyers and teachers, who denounced the marginalization of the English language within the country’s judicial and education systems.
Schools, teachers, and state officials have for years ranked among the recurring targets of this conflict, with each new school year reviving fears of another outbreak of violence in these regions.
