Soldiers On The Loose

Fully-armed soldiers allegedly launched a bloody attack on residents of Aburaso in the Atwima Kwanwoma District of the Ashanti Region, causing extensive injuries to some residents and damage to properties worth millions of cedis. Currently, security in the area has been badly threatened as about 30 persons including children as young as 14 years old were maimed during the rampage carried out by the irate gun-wielding soldiers. Fear-stricken residents of the hitherto peaceful community, mostly women and children, had to flee for dear lives on Wednesday evening when the soldiers stormed the area under the instructions of a self-styled chief. Those unfortunate residents who could not run swiftly to safety were brutally attacked by the military men. The soldiers reportedly appeared in the area on Tuesday afternoon but did not act violently; they then came back on Wednesday only to cause mayhem to both lives and property. The injured persons were hurriedly rushed to hospital for immediate medical attention after which most of them were discharged, leaving behind the severely injured at the hospital for further treatment. Assets such as cars, a television set, kiosks, cassette tapes and other properties belonging to the unfortunate residents of the town were destroyed by their marauding attackers. The fierce attack which started at 7:00pm was said to have lasted for close to three hours during which period the once peaceful town was suddenly thrown into a state of mourning and wailing as hapless victims including grown-up men reportedly cried like babies in the presence of their children and wives. Clad in camouflage uniforms, the armed-to-teeth soldiers, numbering about 10, reportedly acted in that bizarre manner based on the instructions of a certain self-styled chief in the town, whose name was not immediately known. There were conflicting reports as to what had influenced the self-styled chief to take that weird decision of calling for the blood of his own kinsmen whom he is ideally supposed to collaborate with to develop the small town. As section of the people that talked to Daily Guide alleged that the self-style chief had sold a portion of land to a private developer to build a house, a situation which the townsfolk had objected to. Others also speculated that the self-styled chief and another chief in a nearby town were at loggerheads over a portion of land, compelling former to call in the soldiers to ‘teach the people a bitter lesson’. When Daily Guide stormed the area around 10:00 am yesterday, Thursday, fears were rife that the soldiers were hiding on the outskirts of the town so they could attack the town again any time soon. Joyce Sarpong, whose son (name withheld), a JHS form-one student, was battered by the merciless soldiers during the attack, was yet to recover from the shock of the fierce attack. She could not tell Daily Guide what they have done to merit that fiendish attack from the soldiers, disclosing that her son who was then out playing received hefty slaps from the soldiers. Another resident, Osei Kwame had his mother’s drinking spot, ‘Akosua Agyapomaa Bar,’ attacked and destroyed by the soldiers. He, too, could not state what led to the unexpected attack, but alleged that the self-styled chief could be the brain behind it all. He also believed that land dispute triggered the condemnable incident. Osei Kwame noted that he had to take cover in his locked room to escape being beaten by the rampaging soldiers, who were bent on causing massive injuries to their victims. Kwabena Ben, a 20-year-old who claimed a soldier’s gun was used to hit his forehead said he was traumatized by the incident, as that was the first time he had seen such a horrible act in his young life. Source: Daily Guide