Cameroon forces kill kidnappers, 13 children missing

YAOUNDE, July 16 (Reuters) Cameroon's security forces killed 12 bandits from Chad and Central African Republic in a weekend battle when the gunmen tried to collect a ransom to free 13 kidnapped local children, state radio said today.

The children, who were kidnapped this month from wealthy cattle rearing families, were still being held in the bandits' hideout, the radio said.

Their captors had demanded 11 million CFA francs (23,000 dollars) to free them.

The clash took place on Saturday at Koum village, 22 km east of Tchollire in Cameroon's North Province, which has suffered raids by armed groups crossing the border from Chad and Central African Republic.

''The villagers raised the money and made an appointment with the bandits to come and collect at night. At the same time, they alerted security forces who took position around the village,'' it added.

''When the robbers showed up at the appointed time, the security forces opened fire, killing 12, including the group leader, and capturing 11 others,'' the radio said.

Over the last year, civilians in both Chad and Central African Republic have suffered increasing attacks as already chronic instability has been made worse by violence spilling over from Sudan's western Darfur region, where a rebellion and ethnic conflict has raged since 2003.

In Cameroon, kidnappers have targeted the nomadic, cattle-herding Mbororo people, who have a reputation for wealth.

The radio said the group holding the children had extorted some 2.6 billion CFA francs (5.47 million dollars) in ransoms from cattle herders in the region in the past year -- a huge sum in a country where most people remain poor despite oil exports.

The radio said one of those captured was a Cameroonian who helped the bandits as an informant and a go-between, taking ransom money from victims' families to buy food for the bandits.

The man told Cameroonian authorities the armed group had links with rebels from Chad and Central African Republic, was led by a dissident Chadian army captain, and was training in Cameroonian territory near their common border, the radio said.

Rebel groups have operated for several years on Central African Republic's northern border with Chad, and include some of the Chadian fighters who helped President Francois Bozize seize power in 2003 before they turned against him.

REUTERS KK KN2050