NAN

Cameroonian Security Forces have freed a group of pupils and their teacher abducted from a school by suspected separatists, a Local Official said on Wednesday.

Nine pupils and their teacher, who were kidnapped from the Lourdes Bilingual School in the South-West town of Kumba in Meme division on Tuesday, had been freed overnight, Meme senior divisional officer Chamberlin Ntou’ou Ndong told dpa.

“Late into the night, the security forces went into confrontation with the gunmen,’’ said Ntou’ou Ndong.

Six kidnappers were killed during the gun battle, while all abductees were found safe, he added.

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The abductees had been held in a hidden camp on the outskirts of Kumba, according to Ntou’ou Ndong.

On Wednesday, security forces continued to hunt for other kidnappers who had managed to escape during the raid, the divisional officer said.

When the kidnapping became known on Tuesday, authorities initially put the number of abductees at between 25 and 30, assuming that the school’s principal had also been among the abductees.

But on Wednesday, authorities said only a total of 10 people had been kidnapped.