YAOUNDE, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- More than 100 students and teachers of a private college in Northwest, one of the two war-torn English-speaking regions of Cameroon, were kidnapped on early Saturday, according to school authorities.
School officials earlier told Xinhua that only eleven students and three teachers had been kidnapped, but further investigations have revealed that more than 100 students and teachers have been kidnapped.
"We now know after further investigations that more than 100 students and teachers were kidnapped. The teachers are not many but the majority of those kidnapped are girls. In fact, all the students and teachers who were on campus have been kidnapped," Rev. Oliver Shey, a senior administrator of the school, told Xinhua.
"We do not know where they are. We are still waiting for the kidnappers to call. We hope that they will be released this night," he added.
Local authorities said government forces are still tracing the whereabouts of the kidnapped students and teachers.
The government and armed separatists have been engaged in a blame-game of rampant kidnappings in the strife-torn regions.
The government regularly accuses separatists of the abductions, however, separatists insist that they are staged by the government to tarnish their image internationally.
Armed separatists fighting for the "independence" of the two Anglophone regions of Northwest and Southwest in Cameroon have been clashing with government forces since November 2017.
The separatists have ordered the closure of schools in the regions. Local authorities said the separatists have torched more than 100 schools that still continue to operate.
