Nima, Mamobi Youth In Violent Clash...Ring Leader's Hand Chopped Off

Violent clashes between rival youth groups from Nima and Mamobi, both communities in Accra, yesterday morning led to the arrest of 13 suspects, including two teenagers, by a joint police and military patrol team. The young men wielded deadly weapons, including machetes, locally manufactured guns and clubs. The two groups are said to have attended a party at a club at Adabraka on Sunday night where the confusion broke out between them. One of the ring leaders, believed to be from the Nima faction, had one of his hands chopped off in the process, with another sustaining a serious head injury. The police patrol team foiled what could have been a bloody encounter and managed to disperse the rioting crowd. The Nima group, feeling over powered by their opponents, regrouped later to mount three separate roadblocks on the Nima-Mamobi opponents on their way back to Mamobi through Nima. The group, numbering about 100 and suspected to be under the influence of alcohol and hard drugs, used the roadblocks to terrorize road users in the area at dawn as they waited for their target. In the process, they attacked and robbed any person on sight, while they stayed alert for their target. After robbing their victims of their belongings, the mob was said to have smashed the windscreens of vehicles before letting them off the hook. When the 'Daily Graphic' arrived at the scene of the incident, broken pieces of glass were seen scattered on the Main Nima road. The Public Affairs Officer of the Accra Regional Police Command, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Mr. Freeman Tettey, told Daily Graphic that the Nima District Police Station had at 3:10a.m on Monday, received distress calls from two taxi drivers for having been robbed of their mobile phones, money and other valuables by the group of young men. The earlier exchanges between the mob and the police had necessitated reinforcement from the military team. The police are yet to establish the cause of the riots but suspect that their drunken mood and abuse of substances may have played a big role. He said a screening process had begun to fish out those who might have had a direct hand in the confusion, while a man-hunt continued for those currently on the run.