A US missionary has been killed in Cameroon about two weeks after moving there with his wife and eight children.
Charles Wesco was in a car with his wife, son, another missionary and a driver on their way to a market in the city of Bamenda when he was shot.
He was caught in cross-fire between the security forces and separatist fighters, a government statement said.
The country’s two English-speaking provinces have been hit by more than a year of deadly violence.
‘God allowed it for a purpose’
The government has blamed the rebels for killing Mr Wesco, saying its troops had killed the four fighters responsible.
Defence Minister Joseph Beti Assomo said the 44-year-old cleric was targeted by rebels planning to attack a nearby university.
But an Anglophone separatist group, which wants to form a breakaway state called Ambazonia, said government soldiers were to blame for the killing.