The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) has deleted a public statement it issued from social media platforms following a public backlash.

The Military had stated categorically that the military operation in Ashaiman on Tuesday, March 7 in which some innocent Civilians were beaten was sanctioned by the high command of the military.

The statement said that the operation was not to avenge the killing of a young soldier, Trooper Imoro Sheriff.

But the Ghana Armed Forces has since deleted the statement which attracted public outrage and insults.

The soldier, who was stationed at Sunyani but was on a course in Accra had sought permission to visit his parents at Ashaiman where he grew up but was found in a pool of blood in the early hours of Saturday, March 4, 2023, near the Amania Hotel in Ashaiman.

According to the GAF, the Military operation in Ashaiman-Taifa and Tulaku was to fish out the perpetrators of the heinous crime and in the process, the Military picked up about 184 suspects aged between 21 and 47 years old and have handed them over to the Military Police and subsequently to be sent to the Ghana Police Service for screening and for further action.

“During the course of the swoop, the personnel seized 29 slabs and 57 mini slabs of suspected Indian hemp and amnesia among other forms of narcotics. The Ghana Armed Forces wish to put on record that the swoop was not targeted at innocent civilians but was an intelligence-led operation conducted on suspected hideouts of criminals and crime-probe areas in the general area. The GAF, however, acknowledges that regrettably some innocent persons might have been caught up in the operation and consequently suffered some distress due to the location they found themselves at the time,” a statement signed by Brigadier-General E. Aggrey Quashie, the Director-General, Public Relations of the Ghana Armed Forces said.