A group of escort transporting Cameroonian Defence Minister Joseph Beti Assomo on Friday, was ambushed in the country’s restive Anglophone region, leaving several attackers dead.

Four soldiers and a reporter were also injured in a previous attack on Thursday while the journalist said the convoy was ambushed again just a short time later.

News of the brazen assault came as the country’s 85-year-old president Paul Biya who has ordered a crackdown in the troubled region declared Friday he would bid for a seventh consecutive term in office.

Journalist Gregoire Djarmaila, who writes for the state daily, was injured by flying glass, said the attack occurred as Beti Assomo was heading for a visit to a military position seven kilometres (about four miles) from the town of Kumba.