(Bloomberg) -- Cameroon authorities stepped up army patrols along the Nigerian border and imposed a week-long nighttime curfew in two English-speaking regions to prevent deadly attacks by secessionists.
The 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew in the Northwest and Southwest regions is necessary because a secessionist movement that wants the English-speaking minority to break away from the French-speaking regions is planning attacks “in the coming days,” according to a government statement read on state radio on Sunday.
The Defense Ministry has found evidence that the movement has recruited mercenaries from Nigeria, according to the statement.
Three paramilitary police officers were killed in a gunfight with suspected separatists in the Southwest region on the weekend, Defense Ministry spokesman Didier Badjeck said by phone early Monday. Almost 20 members of Cameroon’s security forces have been killed this year.
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