Back to the DC United Newsfeed

Separatists in Cameroon use bullets and bombs in attempt to disrupt Africa’s biggest soccer tournament

DAKAR, Senegal — On the fourth day of the Africa Cup of Nations, broadcasting from Cameroon to 150 countries this month, the rebels acted on their threat.

A dozen men fired AK-47s into the air less than a quarter-mile from where the Malian soccer team was practicing Wednesday, spooking the players off the field and drawing security forces into a shootout that killed a taxi driver and his passenger.

Elsewhere that morning in the southwestern city of Buea, someone tossed a homemade bomb from a cab window, wounding three police officers. A bus of Gambian footballers, startled by the chaos, raced back to their hotel.