Soldiers’ reaction to dead colleague abusive
Some residents of Ashaiman Official Town have described as abusive, the conduct of some armed soldiers suspected to be personnel of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) who stormed the area at dawn yesterday and allegedly attacked residents.
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According to eyewitnesses, the armed soldiers stormed the community around 3:30 a.m. and attacked residents, in retaliation for the killing of a soldier last Saturday.
A number of residents sustained life-threatening injuries while others had their houses broken into by the soldiers.
Some residents were also picked up by the soldiers but their locations were not immediately known.
Arrival
The eyewitnesses said the soldiers arrived in military-marked vehicles and buses to carry out the attacks.
Narrating the incident to the Daily Graphic, an eyewitness said at about 4 a.m., he heard some noise about people being beaten on the street in front of his house.
According to him, some soldiers later broke into their rooms and subjected him and his brother to severe beatings using the butt of rifles and whips.
The eyewitness said the soldiers asked them if they knew one Moro and they said they did not know anyone by that name.
He said after the beatings, the soldiers took three of his siblings away and till date, no word has been heard about their whereabouts.
The GAF were yet to make an official comment on the alleged acts.
However, the Daily Graphic gathered from the community that the action by the soldiers was in reaction to the killing of a soldier by a mob at Ashaiman Taifa last Saturday.
The deceased was identified as Sherif Imoro, 21, a member of the GAF Band at the 3 Garrison in Sunyani.
He was said to be in Accra participating in an official programme and was visiting the parents in their home at Ashaiman when he was attacked and killed by a gang.
Missing boys
Father of the three missing boys, Worlanyo Adzanku, a retired customs officer, who operates a shop popularly known as By His Grace Stores, told the Daily Graphic that he had travelled out of town when the incident occurred.
According to him, he received an emergency call and dashed back home only to find that his house had been broken into and some locks destroyed.
Furthermore, a glass window was also hit by a stone allegedly thrown by the rampaging soldiers.
He said he had lodged a complaint with the police who were yet to visit the scene.
Abuse
Anthony Aheto, a resident of Nii Tetteh Amui Street in Ashaiman Official Town, said residents were virtually held hostage by the soldiers who also physically abused them.
"Some of the soldiers were holding empty plastic bottles which they used to fetch water from the gutter for some of the people they arrested to drink," one eyewitness said.
He added that most of the residents were terrified even in their rooms while some were taken away by the men in military uniform.
Another resident who gave her name as Regina, said she saw the soldiers line up a number of people on the street and initially thought the soldiers were carrying out a rescue mission because it had rained in the night.
She said she opened her gate only to be ordered by a soldier to get back inside.