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General News of Friday, 19 February 2016

Source: classfmonline

Bunkpurugu: Special Unit deployed

Acting IGP John Kudalor Acting IGP John Kudalor

The Acting Inspector General of Police (IGP) John Kudalor has condemned the recent attack on police in renewed clashes at Bunkpurugu in the Northern Region.

The IGP, who was speaking with Accra100.5fm’s Chief Jerry Forson, on ‘Ghana Yensom’ Friday 19 February, 2016 revealed that security would be beefed up to restore order.

Thursdays attack left two men, one of them in his 70s, seriously injured with gunshot wounds. Many houses were also torched.

“We have sent a special unit early this morning with special orders. I spoke with the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), who also agreed with the new directive.

The police cannot stay there forever; we work with a ratio on the number of security that can stay in Bunkpurugu,” he stated.

The IGP also appealed to authorities who are mediating the age-old chieftaincy clashes to deliver their verdict and also come up with a road map towards restoring the area to peace.

“The house of chiefs or courts dealing with the case should expedite processes and come out with a ruling and the way forward, then we know what to do.

Sometimes when we intervene, there are accusations that we are supporting one side and those criticisms do not help and make our work difficult. I hope my men will be professional, we have spoken with the military men as well and we will make sure such an incident does not occur again,” he added.

Unknown assailants attacked the Northern Regional Police Command by opening fire on a barracks there Thursday night.

The attack took place simultaneously while officers were out trying to trace the source of sporadic gunshots.

Public Relations Officer of the Northern Regional Police Command ASP Ebenezer Tetteh said: “Last night at about 6.45pm, we heard sporadic gunshots in town, so our men had to be moved in quickly. While they were in town trying to keep peace and bring the situation under control, the assailants turned their attention on the barracks and the police station, so our men had to be tactically withdrawn to come and defend the station because we are there to keep peace.

“They’ve left their various homes and they are there to ensure that there is peace in the area, so, before they can keep the peace in the area, they must be alive first. So, they were withdrawn and they came to the police station,” ASP Tetteh said.

According to him, the Police are not surprised about the attack because they had picked intelligence to that effect.

“This is not surprising because not quite long, some people in Accra held a press conference and poisoned the atmosphere. So we had picked the intelligence that some people were planning such a thing, so we are on high alert and we have put everything in place to ensure that even if they do, we repel them with the force at our disposal, legally…we want to send that signal out there that we are prepared to defend ourselves,” he told Ekow Mensah-Shalders on Class91.3fm’s Executive Breakfast Show.