1 shot dead, 2 arrested with AK47 at Yendi in fresh gun battle

One person has been shot dead near the Gbewaa Palace at Yendi in the Northern Region during curfew hours Friday night to enskine the new Ya-Naa.

The unidentified man believed to be 35 years old was found dead in an abandoned house close to the palace after a late night police shootout between some unknown people in the area and security personnel.

Two men who were surrounded by the security personnel in the said house have been arrested with an AK 47 assault rifle. They have however refused to reveal their identity to the Police.

Police report say the incident happened at exactly 21:25 hours Friday when enskinement rituals were about to commence at the Gbewaa Palace for the newly selected Ya-Naa, Naa Abubakar Mahama.

Some unknown persons were said to have fired shots into the area at a time that a dusk to dawn curfew was in full force, a situation that forced security personnel at post to return fire.

“Security personnel on ground returned fire towards the said direction and pursued the shooters inside the building after police and military had surrounded it” Northern Regional Police Public Relations Officer DSP Mohammed Yussif Tanko confirmed to 3news.com.

“One unidentified man believe to be in his 35th year was also found dead in the compound of said house; that is where the firing was coming from”, he added.

Others who fired shots from three different directions around the same time were pursued but they managed to escape arrest.

The police say the incident did not interfere with the performance of the enskinement rites which started at about 00:45hr of January 19, 2019 with drumming and firing of musketry under tight security.

“The activities came to a close at about 05:30hrs. No additional unusual incident recorded,” DSP Tanko said.

Meanwhile, he said the situations at the Gbewaa Palace and the entire Yendi municipality are being monitored.