Kidnapping

YAOUNDE: Armed assailants kidnapped about 80 children from a school in western Cameroon before dawn on Monday, government and military sources said yesterday.

Noone immediately claimed responsibility for the abduction from Bamenda, a city in the Englishspeaking region where separatists have been fighting to form a breakaway state.

Secessionists have imposed curfews and closed down schools as part of their protest against President Paul Biya’s Frenchspeaking government and its perceived marginalisation of the Englishspeaking minority. A separatist spokesman denied involvement.

‘‘In total 81 people were kidnapped including the [school] principal. They were taken to the bush,’’ a military source said. Another source said that 79 of the kidnapped were children. — Reuters