Gunmen Kill One (1), Wound 16 Watching UEFA Champions League Final In The Northern Region

Unknown gunmen are reported to have shot and killed one person and injured 16 others who were watching the UEFA Champions league final between Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid in Kafaba in the Gonja East district of the Northern Region.

In what eyewitness describe as a sporadic shooting incident, six children, eight females and two males were injured. 'We were just watching the football when they pounced on us, shooting sporadically….everyone was screaming. Then people were on the floor. They used the main road which is surrounded by the bush.

The rest of us tried to follow them when they moved to a commercial car around but we couldn’t get them because the place was dark. People have really been injured, boys, girls, and adults,' an eyewitness recounted in Twi. Two of the victims who were in a critical condition have been transferred from the Salaga Government Hospital to the Tamale Teaching Hospital.

The victims were watching the football match in front of the old chiefs palace when the shooting occurred on Saturday evening. Residents suspect the shooting incident is related to the long-standing chieftaincy dispute between the people of Kafaba and Kalampor.  According to Mensah Christopher Amoako, a reporter for Kanyiti FM in Salaga, at about 9 p.m on Saturday evening, some people inside the palace heard gunshots during the football match.

They rushed out when the shooting stopped to see some people bleeding, while others were wailing and the children crying. He said pick-up trucks and motorbikes were immediately organised to rush the victims to the Salaga Government Hospital. 

There has been a long-standing chieftaincy dispute over who is the rightful ruler of the Kafaba and Kalampor traditional area with people of the Kalampor contesting the kingship of the overlord. 

There is a scheduled enskinment of sub-chief in Kafaba on Sunday, May 29, which is making residents of Kafaba conclude that the shooting was in protest of the event.