Some men believed to be military personnel in the Upper East Region, have allegedly assaulted residents in Garu in the Upper East Region.
The assault has led to the hospitalization of over fifty people. The said military personnel reportedly went haywire in the Garu area and allegedly assaulted people in their homes in a reprisal attack.
It is alleged that the military’s attack was in retaliation for an attack on some National Security operatives by a vigilante group in Garu.
According to the Assembly Member for the Garu-Natinga Electoral Area, Bartolomeo Asore Azumbil, anyone that the military personnel came across was attacked, including his six-year-old son.
“The military came in the early hours, around 2am [on Saturday], and attacked the heart of the town. Everybody they came across was attacked and rendered several people with various degrees of injuries. About fifty-three people have been hospitalized, and I went around the various hospitals and gathered information about fifty-three hospitalizations.”
“Those who have been treated and discharged are undisclosed, and some did not even go to the hospital. Also, they came to my house three times, woke up my six-year-old son, beat him up, and went and broke my brother’s room, collecting some money and mobile phones before leaving.”
Meanwhile, the Ministry of National Security has responded to the reports of alleged brutality on some residents of Garu.
The National Security Ministry explained that it was a joint operation to seize weapons used in the October 24 attack by a vigilante group in Garu.
“The Ministry of National Security and the Ghana Armed Forces, on Saturday, October 28, 2023, conducted a joint operation in Garu to seize weapons used by the perpetrators of the attack on the National Security personnel. A number of the perpetrators have also been arrested.”
“The Ministry of National Security deems the attack on the security personnel at a police station highly unacceptable and strongly condemns acts aimed at intimidating and harming officials of State Security and Intelligence Agencies and impeding them from effectively executing their mandate to safeguard the peace and stability of Ghana.
“Whereas the Ministry of National Security works to promote active citizen participation in safeguarding the peace and stability of our dear nation, deliberate acts that seek to jeopardise the lives of personnel of State Security and Intelligence Agencies will not be countenanced,” the statement further cautioned the general public to act in consonance with the laws of Ghana to avoid any such operations.
