YAOUNDE, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Eleven students and three teachers of a private college in Northwest, one of the two war-torn English-speaking regions of Cameroon were kidnapped early Saturday, according to school authorities.

A teacher of the school who asked not to be named told Xinhua that unidentified gunmen came very early Saturday and kidnapped 14 people, including students and teachers, saying the school has no knowledge of where they had been taken to.

Local authorities said government forces are still tracing the whereabouts of the kidnapped students and teachers.

Government and armed separatists have been engaged in a blame-game of rampant kidnappings in the strife-torn regions.

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 insist to operate. Enditem

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