Yaounde [Cameroon], October 25 (ANI): Armed men attacked a school in the town of Kumba in Cameroon on Saturday, resulting in the deaths of at least four children, and wounding at least 15 others.

The Cameroon government has blamed separatists for the attack, who had ordered schools in the area to be closed, reported Voice of America.

Chamberlin Ntouou Ndong, the most senior government official in the Meme administrative unit where Kumba is located, said four children were killed on the spot. He further informed that seven of the wounded had been rushed to hospitals and were in critical condition.

"Let me seize this opportunity not only to condemn what has happened but to tell them that we are going to do our best," he said. " ... Let me also seize this opportunity to talk to all the parents. I cannot understand that during the day, the Amba boys are attacking innocent children and the surrounding populations are there witnessing without doing anything," VOA quoted Ndong.

Patrick Ebale, 17, said that students in the school ran in all directions as the gunmen fired indiscriminately into the air.

According to VOA, in September, some separatist fighters on social media warned against reopening of schools in Cameroon's English-speaking western regions.

The fighters said they could not guarantee children's safety at schools and asked the central government in Yaounde to withdraw the military if they wanted schools to reopen.

Schools had reopened across Cameroon on October 5 after a six-month break triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Cameroon government said that 30,000 English-speaking children had returned to schools despite the lingering threat of violence. (ANI)