U.S. Urges Cameroon to Probe Deadly Arson Attack on Hospital

(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. urged Cameroon to investigate a deadly arson attack on a hospital in an area that’s experiencing a surge in violence between separatist insurgents and government troops.

The government of the central African nation and insurgents have accused each other of orchestrating the raid that killed four people, including two patients who were burnt alive, and caused considerable damage to the Kumba District hospital in the Southwest region. While hundreds of people have died in the separatist revolt in Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions, the attack early Monday was the first on a hospital.

“We call on the Cameroonian government to conduct a transparent investigation into this crime,” the U.S. embassy in the capital, Yaounde, said in a statement on its website. The U.S. also urges both sides to “allow unfettered access to humanitarian and healthcare workers.”

Communications Minister Rene Emmanuel Sadi said on state radio Tuesday that “a horde of secessionist rebels” had climbed the hospital wall and began firing automatic weapons. Supporters of the Anglophone insurgency on social media accuse the military of raiding hospitals in search of suspected rebels.

To contact the reporter on this story: Pius Lukong in Yaounde at plukong@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Karl Maier at kmaier2@bloomberg.net, Pauline Bax, Rene Vollgraaff

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