2 Shot dead in Yeji

Two persons have been shot dead in a communal clash between two different ethnic groups at Kranya-Akura near Yeji in the Pru District of the Brong-Ahafo Region.

The regional Police Commander, DCOP Maxwell Sakipasgo Atingane, who confirmed the incident to DAILY GUIDE, said the situation has been brought under control as a number of police/military personnel have been dispatched to the area for day and night patrols.

The police chief explained that on Wednesday afternoon some Gonjas from Tarakpa, a farming community in the East Gonja District of the Northern region, crossed a river which serves as the regional boundary between the Northern and the Brong- Ahafo regions to harvest timber in a disputed land at Kranya-Akura inhabited by the Nchumurus.

According to DCOP Atingane, the Nchumurus resisted the Gonjas and the development resulted in a scuffle between the two ethnic groups.

Two persons got injured in the process, one received a gunshot wound and the other was stabbed in the stomach. The two are currently responding to treatment at the Yeji hospital.

The regional Police Commander indicated further that after the scuffle, the Gonjas retreated and later returned to Kranya- Akura under the cover of darkness around 4:30am the next morning to launch another attack on the Nchumurus, burning 10 houses in the village and killing two persons in the process, one from each side.

DCOP Atingane, who has been to the place to assess the situation, maintained that the timely intervention of the police averted more casualties.

Meanwhile, officials of the two sister districts, Pru and Gonja East, have met over the incident. The district chief executives are expected to lead a team of delegation to visit the two warring communities to help restore peace.

Speaking to DAILY GUIDE, the chief of Kadue, Nana Kwaku Latah V, whose jurisdiction comprises Kranya-Akura, commended the police for their swift intervention and for also maintaining their heavy presence in the community to scare the Gonjas from launching further attacks.

Nana Latah however put the number of persons killed in the clash at four, three being Nchumurus and one a Gonja.

He explained that river Bunjari had been used by the Lands Commission during the Nkrumah regime as a regional boundary between the Northern and the Brong- Ahafo regions.

The chief said the Gonjas crossed the river to the Brong-Ahafo side because they claimed the place was part of Gonjaland.