The Cameroon Army is equipping its special forces with Turkish-made MPT-76 assault rifles. Developed in the late 2000s for the Turkish military, the MPT-76 is often likened to the AR-15 rifle and shares visual similarities with the German HK-417, according to The Defense Post.
The rifle is chambered for NATO-standard 7.62x51mm ammunition. The first prototypes were built in 2008 using smaller ammunition but were poorly received by Turkish Soldiers. It was redesigned for NATO ammo. It has a 20-round magazine and fires 650 rounds per minute.
The MPT-76 comes in three barrel lengths, but the version used by Cameroon is equipped with a 40-centimeter barrel. The Defense Post reports that the Turkish rifles also are used by Azerbaijan, Senegal and Somalia.
The weapons are to be used in Cameroon’s North West and South West regions, where a separatist insurgency has been roiling since 2017. Several armed groups want to create a state called Ambazonia out of Cameroon’s English-speaking regions. The conflict has killed more than 6,000 people and displaced 765,000.