The Ministry of Interior has placed an 8pm to 5am curfew on the Bawku municipality and its environs following renewed clashes on Monday.
The renewed curfew hours followed advice from the Upper East Regional Security Council after some individuals were said to have been shot dead in last Monday’s attack.
The curfew took effect from yesterday May 11, 2022. The Bawku municipality had been under intermittent curfew since the protracted conflict resurfaced last year.
Meanwhile, the Ministry has urged the feuding factions to employ peaceful means to resolve their differences while the government works to restore peace to the area.
A statement from it issued yesterday said “there is a total ban on all persons in the afore-mentioned communities and their environs from carrying arms, ammunition or any offensive weapon and any persons found with any arms or ammunition will be arrested and prosecuted.”
“Government calls on Chiefs, Elders, Opinion Leaders, Youth and people of the area to exercise restraint in the face of the challenges confronting them as well as to use non-violent means to channel their energies into ensuring peace,” the statement added.
Death cases
Meanwhile, at least five persons were reported to have been shot dead in Bawku, the centre of a protracted violent chieftaincy crisis, in two separate incidents within 12 hours.
Reports say three of the deceased were shot dead last Monday evening, while the other two were killed Tuesday morning all by unknown assailants.
One person, who sustained gunshot wounds in the second incident, is receiving treatment at the Vineyard Hospital in Bawku.
The yet-to-be-identified victims of last Monday’s killings were two males and a female, who were sitting in front of their house around 7:45 pm before the unknown assailants attacked them.
Two males were shot dead on Tuesday morning’s incident at Patelmi area, also a suburb of Bawku, in what was suspected to be a reprisal attack for last Monday’s killing.
Incident
A source said the victims of last Monday’s incident were family members who were seated in front of their house in a hearty conversation at Singnateng, a suburb of Bawku, when the assailants ambushed, shot them and bolted.
The source revealed that the incident sparked sporadic shooting in some parts of the town deep into the night, adding that “within 12 hours, some gunmen also shot and killed two persons, with another sustaining gunshot wounds in a suspected reprisal attack”.
According to reports, there has since been sporadic shooting in some parts of Bawku, an otherwise vibrant commercial town.
As basic public schools reopened for academic activities on Tuesday, some pupils and teachers failed to show up, possibly because of the volatile security situation in the area.
However, a combined team of police and military personnel had beefed up patrols in several parts of the town. Many residents, especially women and children, had largely remained indoors in the wake of the latest violence in town.
The Bawku Divisional Police Commander, Superintendent Simon Akabati, confirmed the killings said five suspects, aged between 17 and 29, had been arrested in connection with the disturbances and sporadic gunshots among ethnic groups in Bawku.
“So far, five persons have been arrested, Ibrahim Sawadugu, aged 17; Abdulai Mbadu, 18 years; Awudu Seidu, 15 years; Abdul-Karim Alhassan, 22 years; and Issah Osman, age 29. The suspects have been sent to the Upper East Regional police command in Bolgatanga where they will be put before the court,” Superintendent Akabati noted.
Superintendent Akabati said although the township was generally calm, a few gunshots were still being recorded in the suburbs, which the police were following closely. He added that one locally-made pistol and one BBA cartridge were retrieved during the disturbances.
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