Fears of possible reprisal attacks have plagued the entire Tafo community in the Ashanti Region, after the bloody clash between some residents in the Muslim community and some loyalist of the Tafo traditional council over discrepancies on a piece of land at the community’s cemetery.
Indications are that the absence of the Military and Police personnel, the dispute will ignite and is likely to be more fatal since individuals whose properties and businesses have been destroyed and others burnt down have been bubbling with rage.
The community folk are still in an angry mood and have vowed there would not be peace until an agreement has been reached between the two feuding factions.
Consequently, shops have closed; businesses have been interrupted by the disorderliness, with the suspected attackers eyeing each other with suspicion and rage, ready to attack in the event of a slight security lapse.
Worst still, classes have been suspended and schools have been closed down to avoid endangering the lives of students. Linking roads within the town have also been blocked to avoid flow of transportation that may risk the lives of passengers.
The clash which resulted in the injury of many people was said to have been occasioned by an order from the Chief of Tafo for a fence wall which was being constructed around the Muslim part of the Tafo cemetery to be pulled down.
One Suleman, who died during the fatal clash was said to have been shot in the chest and hand by a Policeman in front of the Atwima Kwawuma Rural Bank in the area.
The clash between the two sides has since, induced the imposition of a curfew which runs from dawn to dusk in the Tafo town by the Ashanti Regional Security Council.
A number of vehicles and other properties including houses were destroyed during the friction with some shops, vehicles set ablaze.
According to reports, a well-structured Pentecost church in the area and a Mosque has been demolished by the angry rioters.
A meeting to present the issue to the Asantehene, Otumfuor Osei Tutu II, for a resolution to the dispute for calm to prevail had to be called off because His Royal Highness was out of the country.
The Regional Security Council has met the leaders of the two factions to deliberate on finding solutions to the dispute in order to ensure that calm returns to the area for the people to live their normal lives.
It took the arrival of the Police, led by the Ashanti Regional Police Commander, DCOP Kofi Boakye and Military personnel to maintain some law and order in the area on Wednesday when the clash occurred.
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