CHRDA and the Cameroon Anglophone Crisis Database of Atrocities have completed an initial investigation into the incident that occurred at Mbengwi Road, Bamenda, on December 8, 2021.

Key conclusions from this investigation are as follows:

1. The incident appears to have been triggered by an IED attack on a BIR convoy near Kernel Mill Junction, Mbengwi Road, Bamenda. The ADF’s Bamenda Brigade has claimed responsibility for the attack.
2. It is believed that a senior officer of the BIR or associated forces was killed in the attack.
3. In response, state security forces, likely including the 3^rd BIR and associated units, carried out retaliatory burnings in the Mbengwi Road neighborhood.
4. Eyewitness accounts also allege extrajudicial executions of civilians.
5. Open-source evidence, including videos and photos, facilitated geolocation of a number of burned locations along Mbengwi Road, including houses.
6. Satellite imagery from December 9 corroborated these geolocations, with visible fire damage along Mbengwi Road and in one location at the Hospital Roundabout.
7. The scale and distribution of burned buildings, plus the distance between these burned sites, demonstrate that this incident was a deliberate burning of the community surrounding Mbengwi Road by state security forces.

Recommendations to the Cameroonian government:

• Launch an independent investigation into the incidents at Mbengwi Road.
• Commit to prosecute any individuals found to have violated international or domestic human rights law during the incident, such as burning civilian structures or committing extrajudicial killings.
• Deliver training for military personnel about what constitutes impermissible violence, war crimes, and violations of International Human Rights Law.

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