Zimpapers Logo

WHILE the world hungrily monitored the Uefa Champions League updates of the final in Milan, there was horror for 17 people in the north of Ghana. Information reaching supersport.com says that unknown gunmen have shot and killed one person while 16 others were seriously injured while watching the duel between Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid.

They had gathered to watch the game in Kafaba, in the Gonja East district of Ghana’s Northern Region. In what eyewitnesses describe as a sporadic shooting incident – six children, eight females and two males – were injured.

Two of the victims who were in a critical condition have been transferred from the Salaga Government Hospital to the bigger Tamale Teaching Hospital. Joy FM in Accra, Ghana’s capital, reports that the victims were watching the game in front of the old chiefs palace when the shooting occurred on Saturday evening.

The shooting is suspected to be related to a long-standing chieftaincy dispute between the people of Kafaba and Kalampor. Reports say this tension is a result of disputes over who the rightful heir to the throne should be. Residents suspect the timing of the attack because there is expected to be a big coronation of a sub-chief this weekend.

According to Mensah Christopher Amoako, a reporter for Kanyiti FM in Salaga – an affiliate of Joy FM – at about 9 pm, people inside the palace heard gunshots coming from outside the building. When they rushed out, the shooting stopped.

They met a scene of several people bleeding, with a number of children screaming. Amoako said pick-up trucks and motorbikes were summoned and the victims taken to the Salaga Government Hospital.