Mystery Armed Attack Leaves One Dead, 2 Critically Injured

Gunmen, numbering about nine, attacked the Anyinam railway quarters in the Eastern region in the early hours of last Saturday, shooting to death one person and wounding two others.

The dead was Richard K. Ansah, foreman at the Railways Corporation, and the wounded were Emmanuel Fiagbati, a time-keeper of the corporation and Kwabena Boadi who lives at the quarters - though a non-staff.

The body of Ansah has been deposited at the Kyebi government hospital, while Fiagbati and Boadi are in critical condition at the same hospital.

An eyewitness account was to the effect that the robbers first attacked one Donkor, who is not a railway employee but occupies a room vacated by a transferred staff.

Donkor, who was being brutally assaulted, shouted for help, so most of the residents woke up to offer assistance.

Fiagbati was the first to open his door but he was shot in the chest. Boadi followed and was also shot in the head.

Ansah, now deceased, later rushed to the scene and was shot in the head and leg, dying instantly.

The robbers also fired at most of the residents who attempted offering assistance, but missed them narrowly.

Another eyewitness told Chronicle that the gunmen who were speaking in the Hausa dialect were repeatedly asking Donkor the whereabouts of the 'thing' but never mentioned what particular thing they were demanding.

The allegation, if true, would suggest that the attackers might have had some business dealings with Donkor and so went there to demand their due.

Surprisingly, the attackers did not take or attempt to take any property belonging to any of the victims, as is done in other robberies.

A Railway Corporation source informed Chronicle that Ansah was transferred to Anyinam from Moudaso in the Awaso branch of the corporation in the Western region less than a year ago.

When this reporter arrived at the scene, the executives of the railways workers' union, led by Sammuel Kuma from Nkawkaw, were there to offer the needed assistance and were also planning to dispatch emissaries to the deceased's wife and children who were yet to join him at Anyinam - to break the bad news to them.

A police source confirmed the incident, disclosing that the attackers used a locally manufactured gun. No arrest has been made so far.