BAMENDA, Cameroon (Reuters) - Cameroonian soldiers killed six people and wounded six others on Sunday in the town of Kumbo during protests by activists calling for independence for English-speaking regions of the central African nation, the town’s mayor said.

Donatus Njong Fonyuy told Reuters that the dead included five prisoners who were shot after a fire broke out at the town’s jail. A demonstrator was later killed by the soldiers when he tried to hoist the flag of the Ambazonia separatist movement over the chief’s palace.