Police in the Upper East Region have confirmed the death and identity of a female police officer who was killed in the renewed clashes in the Bawku Municipality on Sunday, January 23.
It is not clear if the young police officer, Constable Regina Angenu, was targeted by the killers or she was killed by accident.
According to a police report, on January 23, 2022 at about 17:05 hours (5:05pm), Constable Angenu, who was stationed at the Paga Police Station in the Kassena-Nankana West District visited one Constable Erasmus Enkson who is stationed at Bawku, serving under the Bawku Divisional Motor Transport and Traffic Unit (MTTU).
The report indicated that Constable Angenu and Constable Enkson were heading towards Enkson’s barracks, when they were attacked by unknown assailants and the policewoman was shot in the groin.
She was rushed to the Bawku Presbyterian Mission Hospital for treatment but died in the process.
Three other persons were feared to have also been killed in the clash on Sunday. One of the three is believed to have exchanged fire with the police and was killed in the process.
DAILY GUIDE sources in Bawku believe that over 30 people have been killed in the renewed clashes in Bawku, which started close to the end of last year due to protracted chieftaincy dispute.
“Since December 2021, we have always heard gunshots in Bawku. We hear people crying because they have lost their relatives. This situation is not good at all,” a source lamented.
The renewed clash has affected many sectors including education, health and trading, and many public sector workers who are not natives have left the Bawku Municipality and will only return when calm is restored.
In November last year, following the renewed clashes, the Ministry of the Interior upon the advice of the Upper East Regional Security Council and by Executive Instrument imposed a curfew on Bawku Municipality and its environs in the Upper East Region.
The imposition of the curfew was as a result of threat of insecurity in the communities concerned, a statement signed by the Minister of the Interior Ambrose Dery had said.
The curfew has since remained but the factions are still able to circumvent the heavy security presence to cause pockets of mayhem.
From Ebo Bruce-Quansah, Bolgatanga