Bafut: Suspected Amba fighters kidnap nursing mother, abandons her two-month baby on highway.

The woman, whose name The Guardian Post is yet to obtain, was kidnapped and her two-month-old baby abandoned along the stretch of road in Bafut. 

The Guardian Post gathered that she was kidnapped as she headed for Bamenda from Menchum Division.

It was not immediately known why the breastfeeding mother was abducted but kidnapping for ransom has been rampant in the Anglophone Regions, amidst the ongoing armed conflict in the area.

Bamenda-based local television station, Star TV, confirmed the incident yesterday before disclosing that the abandoned baby had been rushed to the media house.

In an outing on their verified Facebook page, the media organ wrote: “Star TV has just received a disturbing story of a baby whose mother has been kidnapped by unknown gunmen in Bafut this evening while on her way to Bamenda”.

The media organ recounted that: “The mother of the baby was on the bike with another passenger and was kidnapped and the baby abandoned with the bike rider and the passenger. The passenger helped to bring the baby to City FM Radio Che Street Ntarinkon while the fate of the mother still remains unknown”.

The kidnap of the breastfeeding mother has since sparked widespread condemnation on social media. 

Described as senseless and inhumane, several persons have berated separatist fighters for engaging in such heinous acts against the same people they claim to be fighting for.

The kidnap of the woman, follows several callous and barbaric acts carried out by Amba fighters in the Anglophone Regions.

As recent as January 14, 2026, Amba fighters carried out another episode of brutality, with the killing of 14 Mbororo women and children in Gidado. 

The attack took place in Ndu Subdivision, Donga Mantung Division, of the North West Region.

Reports from the scene suggest the attack was a deliberate act by separatist fighters, intended as retaliation for the deaths of their colleagues in arms. 

The separatist fighters believe some Mbororo community members aided the military in the killings.

The killing of women and children was widely condemned, with voices across the board urging authorities to seek urgent and lasting solutions to the crisis. 

The Gidado attack was the latest in a series of killings, lootings, rapes, and ransom-takings that have marked armed conflict in the two Anglophone Regions.

The Mayor of Ndu Subdivision, Alhadji Abdou Kanfon Borno, had said the attack wasn’t the first targeting Mbororo/Fulani families in the area.

He said: “It is not the first time they have attacked Fulani people. Recently, some Fulani were ambushed again by the Amba terrorists. Some time ago, a youth from Mbandung who was on his way to work at the Cameroon Tea Estate was attacked and killed along the road. On another occasion, they identified three Fulani men in the cattle market, removed them, and shot them dead. The sad thing is that whenever they kill Fulani, there tends to be revenge on the native population, and it is causing us a great deal of distress”.

On August 11, 2020, Comfort Tumasang, a 32-year-old mother of two, was gruesomely murdered in Muyuka of the South West Region. 

A video of her beheading went viral on social media, provoking widespread condemnation. Tumasang’s mother had said separatists accused her daughter of collaborating with the military as an informant before killing her.

She said when separatists came to her home, her frightened daughter did not hesitate to hand over her telephone as the fighters requested.

She said 30 minutes later, she watched helplessly as Comfort was forced out of the house to a neighborhood called Sandsand. 

She said in Sandsand, the fighters tied Comfort to a tree. When residents raised an alarm, the fighters fled, taking her along. Comfort Tumasang was later found dead in a pool of her own blood. 

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3689 of Friday January 30, 2026