Cameroon army rescues kidnapped, 'tortured' students

Eight male students who had been abducted by suspected separatists from a school in the war-torn Anglophone north-west region of Cameroon have been freed, authorities say.

Abdoullahi Aliou, a local administrator, said the armed men stormed the school in Esu area on Tuesday and "tortured" the students before abducting them.

Two classrooms and the principal's offices were set on fire during the attack. Some school officials, including the deputy principal, were also kidnapped.

Several students who sustained injuries are being treated in hospital.

“The eight students who were kidnapped were all freed following the intervention of defence and security forces,” Mr Aliou said, without providing details of the whereabouts of the deputy principal and other school officials.

For over six years now, separatists have imposed and enforced a school boycott in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon. The separatists see schools as an arm of the French-speaking-majority's rule.

The separatists have attacked students and teachers who defy their orders.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s attack.

More than 700,000 children have lost access to education after the closure of several schools since the conflict began in 2017, according to the UN.

About 6,000 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced in the conflict, the International Crisis Group said.