Soldiers accused of extrajudicial killings in Big Babanki!.

Locals say the arrest and subsequent shooting to death of at least six youngsters in the village, is the handiwork of soldiers. Corpses of the youngsters were found in the village Friday June 16. 

According to information The Guardian Post gathered from sources on the ground, soldiers had invaded the village. 

Big Babanki, it should be said, has been a hotspot of separatist activities since the crisis in the North West and South West Regions morphed into an armed conflict.

The soldiers, our sources recounted, combed several neighbourhoods in the village in search of separatist fighters. Many youth are reported to have been arrested by soldiers during their raid. 

We gathered that some of those who were arrested included motorbike riders and other youth of the area. Some of them are said to have reportedly been caught with hard drugs and other fetish items that suggested they could have links with Amba fighters. 

Others were reportedly removed from their homes by soldiers indicating they had some intelligence of the people they were looking for. 

Reports gleaned indicate that some of those arrested were former Amba fighters who had long abandoned the struggle but were still idling in the village. 

Some of the arrested youth, our sources added, were freed after serious grilling while others were reportedly tortured and bundled to Bamenda for further interrogation.

Those who were ferried to Bamenda, our sources added, were youth suspected of having links with Amba fighters who have of recent been wreaking havoc on the population of the area. 

Inhabitants of Big Babanki are reported to have last Friday found the corpses of six of the youth who are said to be among those who had been taken to Bamenda by the soldiers. 

Inhabitants of the area say the corpses that were abandoned along the roads were discovered with bullet wounds, suggesting they had summarily been executed by soldiers. 

The killed youth, we gathered, were from Big Babanki and others from Bambui. We gathered that three of the corpses have already been buried. It is not clear if the others have already been buried. 

Revisiting recent Amba fighters’ atrocities in Babanki 

Last May, Amba fighters kidnapped and tortured over 30 women of the village for denouncing forceful imposition of levies of 10,000 FCFA on men and 5,000 FCFA on women by separatist fighters. 

The women, most of whom were in their late 50s and 60s, had marched in streets, brandishing sticks and calling for an end to separatist excesses. 

Amba fighters had released a video, which went viral, showing the women being subjected to unbearable torture. Some of the women were shot on the legs.

The fighters had accused the women of being witches and collaborating with the military.