Attackers have opened fire on a private school in Cameroon's Southwest Region, killing at least four children, according to officials.

The unknown assailants stormed the Mother Francisca School in the city of Kumba on Saturday. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

"They attacked around noon. They found the children in a class and they opened fire on them," Kumba sub-prefect Ali Anougou told the Reuters news agency.

At least nine other pupils were wounded and sent to the hospital. There were fears the death toll could rise.

The Associated Press news agency quoted Anougou as blaming separatists who have been fighting the military in parts of western Cameroon for the attack.

Cameroon's two Anglophone regions - the Northwest and Southwest Regions - are home to a large minority of English speakers in a country where French speakers are the overwhelming majority - a situation that is the legacy of the decolonisation of western Africa by France and Britain more than 60 years ago.

In late 2016, long-standing complaints of political and economic discrimination against English speakers by the central government spilled over when lawyers, students and teachers began calling for reforms.

The government's lethal response to the protests provoked rebels to declare in 2017 independence for a region they call "Ambazonia", triggering a stronger crackdown by the authorities.

Both sides have since been accused of committing atrocities in a conflict that has killed some 3 000 people and forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes.

Anglophone secessionists have imposed curfews and closed schools as part of their protest against President Paul Biya's government.

Last year, officials blamed separatists for kidnapping dozens of schoolchildren, charges the separatists denied.

Source: News24