SECURITY FORCES ROUND UP 93 ...In Bawku conflict (BACK PAGE)

NINETY-THREE persons have been rounded up in a swoop conducted by security forces in connection with the killing of over a dozen people in Bawku over the weekend.
The Upper East Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Ofosu-Mensah Gyeabour, told the Daily Graphic that the death toll in the latest clash had also risen to 13.
Last Saturday, one Zackaria Abagre, a Mamprusi man, was brutally killed at Buabula, near Sabongeri, a Kusasi community, after he had gone out in search of his missing horse.
Later in the night, it was alleged that some group of Mamprusis disguised themselves in military attire and stormed the area and attacked four houses and murdered 10 people, mostly aged women and children. The males were said to have fled the area.
He disclosed that the death toll had risen to 13, adding that on Sunday night, one man identified as a Moshie was shot in the head at Patelmi, a suburb of Bawku.
DCOP Ofosu-Mensah Gyeabour, who gave the ages of the dead as ranging from five to 80, said in addition to the 93 arrested in the swoop, six others were picked up after the death of Abagre.
He indicated that seven persons including an eight-month-old baby girl were on admission at the Bolgatanga Regional Hospital.
He expressed concern at the new dimension to the conflict, particularly the butchering of women and children, and said the police and the military had intensified their patrol in the town to avert an escalation of the violence.
Meanwhile, the order by the Municipal Security Council for people to remain indoors has been relaxed. According to the Municipal Chief Executive and Chairman of MUSEC, Mr Abdulai Abanga, the dusk to dawn curfew was still in force in Bawku.
Between 6 p.m. on Saturday and 6 a.m. on Monday, residents of Bawku were ordered not to step out of their homes, the decision, according to the MCE, was taken to forestall any mayhem in the municipality. When reached, Mr Abanga said the decision to relax the order was to enable people to get access to food and water.