A dreaded self-styled “General Bitter Cola,” was among five Cameroon’s separatist fighters killed in a raid on their hideout the Mofako Butu locality of the country’s English-speaking region of Southwest late Monday.

Cameroon’s army announced the killing of the five separatist fighters in the region where a prolonged armed separatist conflict has been in progress for many years.

Army said the raid was carried out by its Rapid Intervention Battalion, the country’s elite force in a statement by Chamberlin Ntou’ou Ndong, senior divisional officer for Meme division where the hideout was located.

“He terrorised civilians, killing many. We are calling on all other fighters still in the bush to drop their weapons and embrace peace,” Ndong said of the late General Bitter Cola.

The Separatists have been fighting to create an independent nation in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions of the Northwest and Southwest since 2017.