YAOUNDE, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- At least eight people including civilians have been killed in military raids in Cameroon's English-speaking region of Northwest, local and security sources said Wednesday.

The raids in Wum, a locality of Northwest, came after armed separatist fighters killed a government soldier who was on a night patrol in the area, according to a military official who asked not to be named.

From Monday to Tuesday, government troops accompanied by armed local vigilantes raided the locality.

The attacks were described to Xinhua Wednesday by four villagers who said they had fled into nearby bushes or cowered at home while soldiers rifled through their belongings. They said they saw seven dead people, including three armed separatist fighters and four civilians.

The military official told Xinhua that troops were conducting a raid on separatist positions when they came under fire and killed what he labelled as terrorists.

The Cameroonian army has beefed up security in the region after armed separatists ambushed and killed 15 soldiers in a single combat in September.

The army has since 2017 been fighting English-speaking militias seeking to form a breakaway state known as Ambazonia in the two Anglophone regions of Northwest and Southwest. Enditem

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