According to reports, separatist fighters in the Anglophone region of Cameroon have set off an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in the town of Limbe which was scheduled to host the Group F matches of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON). Local police said the explosion went off early Thursday at Half-Mile neighborhood of Limbe but no one was reported injured in the explosion. Limbe was set to host Tunisia, Mali, Mauritania, and Gambia in the Group F matches of the AFCON tournament.
Separatist fighters announced on social media that they were responsible for the bomb blast and stated that it was “a warning sign of what we will do during AFCON.”
The Cameroonian government has deployed additional troops and ammunition to the region in response to the explosion.
Separatist leaders declared that they do not want AFCON matches to hold in a region “at war”. This separatist group has been clashing with government forces in Anglophone regions of Northwest and Southwest since 2017, where they want the creation of an independent nation they call “Ambazonia.”
AFCON is set to officially kick off on January 9 in the capital Yaounde and would run for a period of four weeks.
