Dagomba Line conflict: One dead, 120 arrested

A 20-year-old itinerant porter has been shot dead in Thursday night’s bloody gun and machete clashes that erupted at the Dagomba Line slum in the Asokore Mampong municipality of the Ashanti Region.

Mumin Huruna’s death was confirmed by the Regional Chairman for the Head Porters Association in the Ashanti Region, Mr Osman Ziblim.

He told Kumasi FM's Elisha Adarkwah that the body of the deceased has been deposited at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital morgue.

Meanwhile an officer of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) in Asokore Mampong, Mr Joe Debrah has confirmed to Elisha Adarkwah that 120 suspects have been arrested by the police and seven people have been injured.

Several houses were torched in the conflict

Some of the victims fled the area to seek refuge elsewhere.

Nursing mothers carried their babies on their backs and wailed in the midst of the conflict.

Several properties were destroyed in the clashes.

A joint police and military team was deployed to the slum to restore peace.

The police command in the area has arrested scores of suspects.

The fresh conflict followed the burning of three rooms and three stalls in the slum by some squatters after they clashed with police officers who were supervising a demolishing exercise per a court order secured by the owner of the land on which the shacks have been built.

Some other properties were also destroyed in the melee.

A group of aggrieved squatters attacked the police officers with sticks, stones and other missiles.

In the heat of the attack, the police retreated and called for reinforcement as fire officers rushed to the area to douse the flames.

Several of the angry squatters were arrested and put in police custody in connection with the Tuesday clash.