Gunmen have shot a senior police officer at his home in Cameroon's main English-speaking city, Bamenda, respected local journalist Peter Tah has tweeted.

Separatists are suspected to have been behind the attack but there is no independent confirmation of this, he adds.

Mainly French-speaking Cameroon is the latest African state to be hit by conflict, with some English-speaking Cameroonians taking up arms to demand an independent state in the North-West and South-West.