YAOUNDE, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- A separatist commander known simply as Obi was among five insurgents who were killed on Sunday in Owe, a locality in Southwest, one of the two troubled anglophone regions of Cameroon, the Cameroon army said Monday.
The death of Obi was confirmed by Kingsley Ashu, a separatist leader, in a Facebook post.
Obi was a key commander of the separatist and his physical elimination could prove a major blow to the rebels in Cameroon's Southwest region, according to security reports.
The Cameroon army has beefed up security in the restive English-speaking regions of Northwest and Southwest as separatists prepare to celebrate the "third anniversary of independence" on Tuesday.
On October 1, 2017, separatists who have been clashing with government forces symbolically declared the "independence" of the two regions from the majority French-speaking Cameroon and have been celebrating the day since then.
On Monday, a national dialogue opened in the capital, Yaounde to end the separatist conflict that has killed hundreds and displaced over 530,000 internally.
