Cameroon military says 30 separatists killed in fighting

Cameroon's military says it has killed least 30 separatists in the past few days in the country's restive North West region.

Military spokesperson Colonel Didier Badjeck said on Wednesday that figures may increase after intense fighting in the Mayo Binka area.

Badjeck said no soldiers died in the fighting. He said the military freed people held by separatists and more than 100 fleeing the violence have arrived in the capital, Yaounde.

Hundreds have been killed in the past year in fighting between the military and armed separatists in Cameroon's northwestern and southwestern regions.

The trouble started a year ago when the government clamped down on peaceful demonstrations by English-speaking teachers and lawyers protesting what they said was their marginalisation by Cameroon's French-speaking majority.

Separatists demand an independent state, they call Ambazonia.

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