The accused persons
The Tamale District Magistrate Court (2), presided over by Antony Aduku-Aidoo, has granted bail to 15 suspects arrested by the police in connection with renewed clashes in Bimbilla in the Nanumba District of the Northern Region.
The court granted each accused person bail in the sum of GH?1,000, with one surety, to reappear on February 27, 2017.
The accused persons were charged with breach of curfew. They all pleaded not guilty.
Twenty-one persons were arrested by the police in connection with the clashes in Bimbilla.
After the police screening, six persons, including four minors, were released.
Some family members of the accused persons, who spoke to DAILY GUIDE, expressed their happiness with the decision of the court to grant them bail.
“We are happy that they were granted bail and will come home soon because some of them are family men and need to satisfy the needs of their families.”
The death toll in the renewed chieftaincy clashes in Bimbilla in the Nanumba North District of the Northern Region has reached 11.
The police have found nine bodies in addition to the previous two, increasing the number to 11, with some others sustaining various degrees of injury.
Several houses were set ablaze and the dead include nine women and a four-year-old child.
The deceased persons have been buried in the area by their families.
The violence started when Naa Dasan, the regent of Bimbilla Traditional Area, wanted to enskin a sub-chief called Kanbong Naa (chief warrior) in the area against the advice of the City Council and the police.
Bimbilla has now become a ghost town, as residents have fled the area in their large numbers to other communities.
From Eric Kombat, Tamale