At least 23 civilians, including 15 children and 2 pregnant women, were killed on February 14 in the village of Ngarbuh by three cameroonian soldiers.
Three soldiers have been charged with murder after a massacre earlier this year in western Cameroon where security forces are fighting Anglophone separatists.
"The three Cameroonian soldiers have been placed in provisional detention in Yaounde military prison," army spokesman Colonel Cyrille Atonfack Guemo told AFP news agency, adding they had been charged with "murder".At least 23 civilians, including 15 children and two pregnant women, were killed on February 14 in the village of Ngarbuh, in what the United Nations, called "a shocking episode in the ongoing crisis that has afflicted the country's Northwest and Southwest regions for the past three years".
The military initially denied any role in the killings and said the deaths resulted from an "unfortunate accident" that happened when fuel containers exploded in the crossfire between separatists and troops.
The preliminary conclusions, published in mid-April, found three "uncontrolled" soldiers who disobeyed orders killed 10 children and three women with the help of local auxiliaries from the Fulani ethnic group.As the international outcry amplified, President Paul Biya ordered an investigation.
The troops then "tried to hide the facts by setting fires" before submitting a bogus report, according to the probe.
"The killings were so outrageous, the abuses so blatant, and evidence so damming," Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.
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