Suspected separatist have chopped off the fingers of six workers of the country’s second largest employer, the Cameroon Development Corporation, CDC.

According to news reports, the four men and two women were rushed to a government hospital Saturday in the English speaking southwestern town of Tiko.

One of the victim, 27-year old Christopher Ongene said armed men attacked them Saturday evening while they were working on a rubber plantation in Tiko .

“The people arrived when we were packing our bags and farm tools to leave. One of them shouted, how many times have we asked you not to work here again. Then one of them ordered us to put our hands on tree trunks and they started cutting. Some of our colleagues who wanted to escape were shot,” he said.

Ongene said they were accused of defying instructions from the separatists not to go to work on the farms to protest President Biya’s reelection and his expected inauguration on November 6.

Other victims who are currently undergoing treatment at the hospital said, they were asked to choose between a gun or machete. Sources say the workers knew the guns will kill them instantly, all went for the machete.

Saturday’s attack adds to the many killings and kidnappings which has driven many plantation workers away from their jobs.

A recent report from the “Inter-employer Grouping of Cameroon”GICAM, reveals how crisis has affected the Corporation. Going by the report, the Anglophone crisis, which has been raging for almost two years, has had negative impact on human, infrastructural, political and economic levels. GICAM’s investigation of companies operating in the North-West and South-West regions reveals a disastrous balance sheet for these companies. No less than 86% of them denounce significant negative repercussions. Thus, 2.153 billion francs is the estimated cost of the destruction of real estate and rolling stock since the beginning of this socio-political crisis.