Cameroon's two anglophone regions have suffered almost a decade of armed violence following attempts to secede from the rest of the mostly French-speaking central African country.

In a statement released Thursday, Cameroon's defense ministry said its security forces had neutralised 14 people in the town of Ndzerem-Nyam, in the northwest on Sunday.

It said soldiers took an "appropriate and professional response" after "heavily armed terrorists opened heavy fire".

"Several weapons of war" and "improvised explosive devices" were seized, the ministry added, claiming the casualties were "dangerous terrorists".

African Conscience, an NGO, condemned in a statement Monday what it called the "brutal killings of at least 14 persons mostly unarmed civilians" after the military interrupted a cultural ceremony.

It refuted the claim that those killed had been armed, said only a few were separatists and called on the government to launch an independent investigation.

On a visit to the region in April, Pope Leo XIV condemned an "endless cycle of destabilisation and death".

In 2020, soldiers killed at least 21 people, including pregnant women and children, in Ngarbuh, a village in the northwest.

Conflict erupted after President Paul Biya, who has ruled the central African country since 1982, violently put down peaceful demonstrations in 2016 by English speakers who felt marginalised.

Monitors estimate thousands of people have been killed in the subsequent violence between armed separatists and Cameroonian security forces.