At the least seven individuals killed by military at Ghana’s AngloGold Ashanti mine

ACCRA -A Ghanaian small-scale miners’ affiliation on Sunday mentioned troopers killed 9 unarmed individuals at an AngloGold Ashanti mine on Saturday evening, whereas the military mentioned seven unlawful miners had been killed in a firefight.

Kofi Adams, native chairman of the Ghana Nationwide Affiliation of Small Scale Miners, informed Reuters that 9 individuals had been killed and fourteen severely injured within the incident on the Obuasi gold mining web site within the West African nation’s Ashanti Area.

He mentioned the individuals had not been armed.

Earlier, Ghana’s armed forces mentioned that about 60 unlawful miners carrying regionally manufactured rifles and different weapons breached the mine’s safety fence at round 11:00 pm on Saturday and fired on a navy patrol deployed there, resulting in a shootout.

“That is unprecedented it is obscure why this occurred,” Adams mentioned, noting that previously, trespassers on the location had been scared off with warning pictures.

Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama ordered a direct investigation into the incident, the presidency mentioned in a press release on Sunday, calling it “tragic”.

The federal government has requested AngloGold Ashanti to cowl the medical bills of the injured and the price of burials, the presidency’s assertion mentioned.

AngloGold Ashanti couldn’t instantly be reached for remark.

The Johannesburg-listed miner owns the Iduapriem and Obuasi mines in southern Ghana. The 2 mines produced greater than 490,000 ounces of gold final 12 months.

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