Mayhem In Kumasi

... - 40 Uniformed Men Run Amok
Kumasi, 28 April 2005, Graphic -- Fear and panic gripped the Kumasi suburb of North Suntreso last Tuesday night when rampaging young men, believed to be soldiers, subjected residents to brutalities and massive destruction of property amid sporadic gunshots.

For close to an hour, the men, numbering about 40, some dressed in military camouflage and T-shirts, completely took over the area, beat everybody on sight, destroyed vehicles and in the end left about 50 people, including a 79-year-old blind woman identified as Auntie Alberta, with various degrees of injury, including cutlass wounds.

The men were said to be avenging the death of a colleague soldier who had been lynched the previous day by a mob in the neighbourhood.

The paper gathered that earlier on Monday night, a military man (name withheld) from Tamale, who was on a training course at the Northern Command in Kumasi, was lynched by a mob at the Akosa School area and his body dragged to the ?N? and ?O? Line area at North Suntreso.

Eye witnesses said the soldier was in the company of a group of gamblers and drug peddlers around the Akosa School, an area notorious for gambling and drug peddling.

They further alleged that after losing in a gambling session, the deceased grabbed the money at stake and attempted to escape with it but he was pursued, grabbed and beaten to death.

The residents told the paper that the morning after the death of the soldier, they saw some strange men patrolling the area and suspected something was going to happen.

They said around 7pm on Tuesday night, a group of men, partially dressed in military uniforms, launched the attack amidst the firing of gunshots.

They vandalized the windscreens of several vehicles and inflicted knife wounds on several residents, throwing the whole area into confusion and forcing people to flee, while many others locked themselves indoors.