Residents in the Bolgatanga Municipality of the Upper East Region are living in a state of fear and panic as many wonder who could be the next victim, following news of two murder cases recorded by the Regional Police Command within a period of four days.

In both cases, some parts of the lifeless bodies had been severed?at the time they were found.

On Friday, August 8, news of a severed head that had been found in an uncompleted building spread fast through the municipality. A subsequent search in that same building revealed a severed penis and scrotum in another portion of the structure; and the feet were also? found somewhere else in the same uncompleted building in Tindonmolgo.? Other parts of the body were found in other parts of the house.? Some of the frightened residents attributed the killings to ritual murder.

There is an ongoing search for the killer(s) by the police.

Meanwhile, the police have arrested the owner of the uncompleted compound house—a trader in the Bolgatanga Municipality—to help in investigations.

On Monday, August 11, when people were trying to put what had befallen the community behind them, another dead body, clad in smock, was found floating in a river along the Zuarungu road. That body had its head chopped off.

The river (Kolaa) serves as drinking water for animals; children and some adults swim in it; and it is also used to water vegetables cultivated by the people of Sawaba and Dameo, located downstream.? Even though all other parts of the muscular-looking body apart from? the head were intact, residents believed that it was another ritual murder.

An eyewitness told DAILY GUIDE? that there was a big box at the scene with blood stains on it, which gave? room for speculation that the deceased might have been killed somewhere and? conveyed to the riverside in that box or the people might have? been put on it and “slaughtered”.

Efforts to get the Upper East Regional Police PRO, ASP Thomas Yao Agbanyo, on phone for an interview were unsuccessful, but the police ?image-maker had earlier spoken on A1 Radio’s ‘Morning Show’ on Tuesday, where he said the police were still investigating the crime.

A Clinical Psychologist, Dr. Emmanuel Assiampong, who was interviewed on the radio, said Ghanaians needed to cultivate ?the habit of observing the movements of new people in their communities to be sure of who they are.