A seventy-year-old man Nankam Babin has been shot dead in bizarre circumstances linked to the chieftaincy dispute in the Bunkpurugu-Yunyoo district of the northern region.
A 25-year -old student of the Bunkurugu Senior High School Adamu Vitag sustained gun injury and is receiving treatment at Baptist Medical center at Nalerigu.
The death sparks what many residents described as a sporadic gun battle in the town between the two ethnic clans, the Jafouk and the Jamongs. Residents in the area are said to be fleeing to neighboring Togo for fear of their lives, a resident told Zaa News. ’They have started burning some houses’ this morning (Monday), even though there is police presence, a helpless resident at a hide-out said.
The unrest started last Friday, when two dead bodies of young men believed to be in their twenties were brought from Nanyiar, a farming community near Bunkpurugu for burial but their burial was denied.
The two were killed by unknown gun men who ambushed them on their way from Bunkpurugu to their community.
An eye witness says the victims, who were members of the Jafouk clan, were sent to an abandoned Fulani’s residence, with the building collapsed on them.
According to the eye witness, the security agencies were alerted but the suspects had already fled the area.
Zaa news’ sources at Bunkpurugu say the police exhumed the dead bodies from the rubble but could not find a place to bury them, either at Nakpanduri or Bunkpurugu, due to the entrenched positions being taken by both factions.
This compelled the police to send the bodies to the Tamale Teaching Hospital for autopsy. Reprisal attacks erupted on Sunday night and gun shots could be heard in the township, amidst a power outage, the eye witness said.
Public Relation officer of the northern regional police command, who confirm the incident Zaa news said a combined police and military have been deployed to beef up security in the area.
Some residents to according to the police PRO sought shelter at the district police office for fear of their lives.
The police say the recurrence of recent violence is surprising after the curfew has been reviewed several times and finally lifted to enable people go about their normal activities.
