Battle of Batibo

The Battle of Batibo was fought during the Anglophone Crisis between Ambazonian separatists and the Cameroon Armed Forces. The battle was fought on March 3, 2018 when Ambazonian rebels attacked Cameroonian units on the Bamenda-Batibo Highway, Batibo Subdivision. At the time, it was reportedly the deadliest confrontation between Cameroonian and Ambazonian forces to date.

Battle of Batibo
Part of the Anglophone Crisis
View of the village of Batibo
Location Batibo, Northwest Region Result Indecisive
Belligerents
Cameroon	Ambazonia
Casualties and losses
Unknown (~70 according to uncomfirmed information)	Unknown ("hundreds" according to uncomfirmed information)

Battle

Although the circumstances of the battle remain unclear, reports claim that separatist forces ambushed Cameroonian soldiers who were celebrating the recent recapture of most villages in the Batibo subdivision. The number of casualties on both sides remains unclear, but reports on social media claim that 70 Cameroonian soldiers and "hundreds" of separatists died in the battle.

These casualty figures far outweigh the official figures at the time. Two months after the battle, Cameroon admitted to having lost at least 44 soldiers and policemen since the start of the armed conflict, of whom at least 22 had died between February and May.

Aftermath

The mayor of Batibo, Frederick Tanjoh, said that while the number of casualties was high - people on the ground claimed to have seen a military truck carrying a load of dead bodies - no information had been released by the authorities.

After the battle, mass arrests took place in the villages of the Batibo subdivision. The villages of Gurissen and Kwana in Haut Bafang, Tinto were burnt down by unknown persons, while the villages of Korgwe, Effa, Koroko, Ambo and Angie were completely abandoned. In total, over 4,000 people fled their homes after the battle, including the Fons who abandoned their palaces.