Residents of Bawku in the Upper East Region have given harrowing accounts of military brutality, detailing how soldiers used guns, stones, and metallic objects to assault them during a late-night raid.
On the night of Tuesday, March 18, the military stormed civilian homes in Bawku, ransacking properties and unleashing severe violence on residents.
The raid is believed to have been in response to the killing of a Ghana Armed Forces officer by unidentified gunmen on Monday, March 17.
Reports indicated that the officer was ambushed and fatally shot while walking on foot.
In the wake of the military attack, residents have shared the details of the assault. One woman recounted how soldiers forcefully entered her home and immediately subjected her to beatings.
“When I opened the door, they started beating me and asked me, ‘Where are the men of this house?’ I told them I have no mother, father, or husband and that I live alone. But they continued beating me, hitting my ears and jaw, and injuring my hands,” she narrated.
Another resident described how soldiers stormed his house at around 8:30 p.m., attacking him and his brothers without asking any questions.
“They didn’t even ask us what happened. They just started beating us, destroying our properties, and taking our phones, belongings, and money,” he said.
He added that some of the soldiers repeatedly asked, “Do you want to kill a soldier? Do you want to beat a soldier?” before assaulting them with guns, stones, and metallic objects.
“We were in the house, we didn’t go out for them to say we have broken rules or boundaries by going outside around curfew hours,” he lamented.
Checks by Myjoyonline’s Albert Sore reveal that civilians, including women, were brutally assaulted. Many men bore deep bruises and lash marks on their backs, while others were left with visible bloodstains on their bodies.
Videos also show widespread destruction by the soldiers, vandalising homes and personal belongings.
The residents are calling on the government to intervene and put in place measures to avert such an incident again.
They insisted that the military, instead of protecting them during curfew hours, is now inflicting further suffering upon them.
“We are suffering in Bawku. The military is supposed to protect us, not beat us,” one resident pleaded.
Meanwhile, the government has deployed military personnel and drones along the Wale Wale-Bolgatanga Highway in response to a series of armed attacks on passenger buses in the area.
Minister for the Interior, Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak, disclosed this in Parliament on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, while answering questions from the Member of Parliament for Wale Wale about rising robberies and vehicle burnings in parts of the North East Region.
