Ghana army hunts gunmen after deadly convoy attack
Ghana’s military is hunting for additional suspects following a deadly ambush on an army convoy escorting civilians along one of the country’s most dangerous stretches of road, in a region where ethnic tensions and cross-border security threats have kept authorities on high alert.
The attack occurred in Binduri as a military convoy transporting 140 civilians travelled between Bawku and Bolga in the north-eastern part of the country. Gunmen opened fire on the escort, triggering an exchange that left seven attackers and three civilians dead. Ten suspects have since been arrested, with operations to track down others still ongoing.
Investigators recovered a G3 automatic rifle, two full magazines, and additional ammunition from one assailant who fled and was found hiding in a mosque, an indication, the army says, of an organized and armed group rather than opportunistic violence.
The attack is the latest eruption of tension rooted in a chieftaincy dispute that has simmered in the Bawku area for decades. The Kusasi and Mamprusi ethnic groups have long contested the traditional leadership of the area, a position that carries significant power and prestige. The conflict sharpened after Ghana’s Supreme Court upheld the Kusasis’ claim to the chieftaincy, deepening grievances among the Mamprusi and fueling cycles of retaliatory violence that have periodically destabilized the corridor.
The government has been managing the situation through a combination of measures, armed escorts for civilians using the highway, curfews, and joint military and police patrols. Additional soldiers were deployed to the area last year after schools came under attack, and the Asantehene has been involved in mediation efforts to restore calm between the two communities.
Beyond the internal ethnic dimension, the soldiers stationed in the north-east carry a second mandate: securing Ghana’s frontier with Burkina Faso, where armed Islamist militant groups operate and are believed to periodically cross into Ghanaian territory, adding an external security layer to an already complex situation on the ground.
Source: BBC
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