Residents of Tensungo, a suburb of Bawku in the Upper East Region are demanding an investigation into the killing of a 38-year-old woman and her two children by men allegedly in military uniform.
Rukaya Iddrisu and her two daughters aged 8 and 2 years old are said to have been asleep when unknown gunmen broke into their room at about 2 am on Sunday and shot them dead.
Some of the residents told reporters, that they found Rukaya’s body with that of her youngest daughter in her bosom and a pool of blood, while the older daughter also lay lifeless, Sunday morning.
The cause of the attack is still unknown. However, some residents believe the military has some questions to answer as they (the military) had previously been to the home, looking for the whereabouts of the deceased woman’s husband, and allegedly meted out corporal punishment to a man they met in the house on the said occasion.
Dasmani Iddrisu, the husband of the deceased said he had the soldiers coming into his but assumed they were on patrol duty until he heard gunshots.
“This dawn I saw two military men around my house and I moved out thinking that they were on their routine patrols but when they entered my house, they forcefully broke my door went in, and killed my wife and children”, a distraught Iddrisu told journalists.
He narrated; “I saw the two of them coming out on foot from my house from my hideout”.
“Later, when we gathered here with mourners, one soldier came back from a riverside near my house, demanding I follow him and the mourners resisted. I told them they should allow me to follow him and know what he would say, but the mourners resisted and he fired gunshots. I want the government to investigate what the soldiers did. I want justice for my wife and children”, Iddrisu said.
One eyewitness, a woman who lives in the same compound with the deceased family narrated; “From our room, we saw them scale the wall into the compound. They were wearing military uniforms”.
“This will be the fourth time soldiers have come here looking for my uncle (the husband of the deceased). On one occasion, when they did not meet him, they beat up his brother and he is almost blind as we speak. This time, they came and shot his wife and two children and injured another”.
She added; “It has been 3 years since soldiers came here (to Bawku) to protect us. They have not succeeded in doing so. Rather, they are killing us. If they cannot protect us, they should leave. We do not want soldiers here anymore”.
So far, neither the Ghana Armed Forces nor the government has commented on the incident.
Bukari Saani Ayelkambe, the Assembly member, Tensungo has called for calm among the locals and made a passionate appeal to the government to investigate the incident and bring the perpetrators to book.
“The security agencies must also do their investigation to know if bad people are using their uniform to commit these atrocities during curfew hours”, he said.
The bodies of the three deceased have since been buried.