Seventh child dies after Cameroon school attack

KUMBA, Cameroon — A 12-year-old girl died Sunday from wounds sustained when gunmen stormed a school in the South West Region of Cameroon on Saturday and opened fire on the children, taking the death toll to seven with 12 injured.

The attack on the school, in the region where separatist insurgents have been battling government forces since 2017, has drawn widespread condemnation and is likely to pile further pressure on the government to do more to end the conflict.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack in the town of Kumba, where the grieving father of the 12-year-old girl said he saw the gunmen drive by on motorcycles in the direction of the school, and then back after a barrage of gunfire. What began as protests by people in the Englishspeaking North West and South West regions of Cameroon over perceived marginalization by the dominant French-speaking majority has escalated into violence with separatists demanding independence.

More than 3,000 people have died since 2017, with both sides regularly accused of committing atrocities.

“I blame the government for everything that is happening,” said Claude Ngwane, whose 12-year-old daughter Renny, died from her wounds early Sunday. He added that if the Cameroon government would acknowledge that it cannot win a civil war, it would act differently to avoid the escalation of a conflict that has so far displaced over half a million people.