Two young men were reportedly shot dead and several others including women and children rendered homeless following clashes between two ethnic groups at Kete-Krachi in the Volta Region.

The deceased were named as Sanusi who died instantly from a shot from his assailants and Harunna who was reported to have died on the way at Dambai, when he was being rushed to the Volta Regional Hospital at Ho.

One Mallam Ferri an employee of the Volta River Authority (VRA) in Kete-Krachi who was reported shot in the head during the disturbances is said to be responding to treatment at the Volta Regional Hospital.

The chairman of the Kete Youth Association in Accra Mr Musah Issah who witnessed the dreadful event, at an emergency meeting of the association yesterday, appealed to the security agencies and the government to as a matter of urgency institute preliminary investigations into the disturbances and take appropriate actions.

He said what happened in Kete-Krachi was beyond what was termed by people as a clash between two youth groups. He said it was rather an attack on the Muslim settlement on one side of the town namely Kete by their settler sisters dominating the Krachi side of the town, namely Krachis.

He said the Krachis have on several occasions attacked the Muslims at Kete "for no tangible reasons other than mere hatred and jealousy".

He recounted how a similar attack was launched on the Kete Muslim community in the early part of last year, the outcome of which favoured the Krachis, "as the paramount chief of the area always rules against the Ketes".

He said last year's attack was reported to the police but the chief abused his position as a former commandant of the National Police Training School to interfere with police investigations.

The paramount chief, Nana Mprah Bosomura, he said, influenced the police to withdraw the matter promising to settle it at home, but rather ended up wrongly accusing the Ketes of being at fault, "and hence imposed a fine of ?5 million on us".

Commissioner of Police in charge of Operations Dr K.K Marfo when contacted on the present situation in Kete-Krachi told the ADM that the town is presently calm following the dispatch of security personnel to the trouble spot, but advised the Public Relations Unit of the police for further information.

The ADM, however, could not get in touch with the PR unit at the time of going to press.