YAOUNDÉ, Aug 16, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - Rebels killed three people, including a soldier and a police officer, in Cameroon near a region wracked by a conflict between anglophone separatists and security forces, a regional governor told AFP on Monday.

The rebels attacked an army post in the village of Kengwo in the West Region on Sunday morning, killing a soldier, a police officer and a motorcyclist, said the region's governor, Augustine Awa Fonka.

The attackers seized weapons and suffered no losses, he added.

The attack occurred near the North West region, which with the neighbouring South West region has suffered a bloody conflict between anglophone separatists and the state for five years.

English speakers make up a majority of the regions' populations in predominantly French-speaking Cameroon, which President Paul Biya has ruled with an iron fist since 1982.

Some of Cameroon's anglophones feel marginalised and an independent state called "the Federal Republic of Ambazonia" was declared in 2017 without achieving international recognition.

Biya, 89, has resisted calls for more autonomy in the regions and responded with a crackdown on the separatists.

The violence has claimed more than 6,000 lives and displaced around a million people, according to the International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank.

International monitors and the United Nations say both sides have committed abuses, including crimes against civilians.

In June, anglophone rebels killed five soldiers in an attack in western Cameroon.