Eighteen Kenyan athletes escaped unhurt after three explosions left at least 19 people, including three children injured during an international sports event in Buea, chief town of the English-speaking Southwest region of Cameroon on Saturday.
According to governor of the region Bernard Okalia Bilai, the locally made bomb exploded just 30 minutes after the over 530 athletes from 15 countries who were taking part in the Mount Cameroon Race of Hope –an annual footrace in the country–had taken off from the Molyko stadium, the starting point of the race.
The Improvised Explosive Device had been placed in a garbage bin along the itinerary detonated when athletes were running past with smoke engulfing some of the athletes and spectators. Two others exploded later in different locations close to the Molyko Omnisport stadium.
“I must emphasize that the explosions did not disturb the race,” the governor said.
The injured were rushed to the Buea Regional Hospital where they were treated for various injuries including chemical burns.
“We have done (surgical) operations on the three serious cases already and they are stable…among those we received are three children – the youngest is one year, six months old,” the Director of the hospital, Dr Martin Mokake said.
Obamissang Dimitri from Gabon is one the 19 injured by a blast that occurred during the Mount Cameroon Race of Hope in Buea, Cameroon on February 25, 2023.
Photo credit: Eugene Ndi | Nation Media Group
Among those who were being treated is 18-year-old Obamissang Dimitri, an athlete from Gabon.
Saturday’s race also marked the 50th anniversary of the annual sporting event that was first organised in 1973.
Kenyan athletes dominated the junior categories this year with 15-year-old Eileen Chepkoech winning gold in the junior female category and 17-year-old Amos Langat winning in the junior male category.
The Southwest is one of two English-speaking regions of Cameroon where gunmen pushing for the separation of English speakers from the majority French-speaking country have been battling government troops since 2017. The separatists say they want to form an independent country called Ambazonia – made up of the two English-speaking regions.
In a claim of responsibility for the blasts, a spokesperson for the Ambazonia Governing Council, one of the separatist groups operating in the region said their target was the Cameroon military personnel that were providing security to the athletes.
“The Ambazonia Defence Forces (ADF) – military wing of the Ambazonia Governing Council carried out the attack,” Capo Daniel, deputy defense chief and spokesman for the armed group told Nation Sport adding that, “our primary target was the Cameroon elite forces, the Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR) that were providing security for the athletes.”
Fighting between government troops and militia groups in the Anglophone regions of Cameroon has claimed over 6,000 lives since 2017 and uprooted 800,000 others from their homes – 60 percent of them being women and children who now face differentiated risks, including gender-based violence and child trafficking, according to the International Crisis Group (ICG).
