Cameroon’s government said on Sunday that separatists in its restive English-speaking region had detonated an improvised explosive device that killed four police and wounded six.  There was no immediate reaction or claim of responsibility from any separatist group. 

What began as peaceful protests in Cameroon’s southwestern Anglophone region in 2017 have degenerated into near daily violence between the forces of Cameroon’s mostly French-speaking government and several separatist groups.  The English-speaking Northwest and Southwest of the country complain of being marginalized by the French speaking majority. 

It is rare but not unheard of for the separatists to use bomb technology, but this would mark their first deadly strike using a bomb. 

The United Nations estimates that, since 2017, about 1,800 people have been killed and more than 530,000 displaced with 1.3 million in need in the region. 

Read more: Reuters