The Inquirer (Monrovia)
Solomon T Gaye
14 January 2008
Nimba — A Toyota bus marked TB-1629 carrying eight occupants over the weekend came under attack by a group of unknown gunmen who are said to be based in the Republic of Guinea; Liberia's northern border country. Eye witnesses said three persons were wounded in the incident.
According to Madam Selay Titus, a Liberian businesswoman who witnessed the incident, the bus came under attack between the highway of Macenta and Nzerekore.
Madam Titus alleged that the gunmen used AK-47 rifles during the attack and demanded their money from them.
According to her, the attackers were dressed in Guinean military uniform when they allegedly masterminded the attack.
Explaining the incident with tears running down her face, Madam Titus said the armed men demanded that six women on the bus undress themselves which they did. She said when the women complied with the assailaints' demand the armed men flogged them on their backs and forced the magazines of their AK-47s raffle into they the women's private parts.
She alleged that in the process her amount of US$500.00 was taken away from her by the armed men.
The driver of the bus Mohamed Barry sustained serious wounds in the attack and is at the moment under going Medical treatment in Macenta.
Few minutes after the incident she said the armed men abandoned the scene but when the matter was later put forward to authorities of the Guinean Transport Union, they made transportation arrangement for them to be brought back to Liberia.
Madam Titus, who herself was an occupant on the bus, identified other occupants on the bus as Mohamed Barry, the driver, Seita Johnson, Fanta Olaray, Malea Sanine and Mohamed Jalloh.
Those wounded in the incident were later taken to a nearby health center in Guinea after the matter was reported to the Guinean authorities.
National Bureau of Investigation agents assigned around the Liberian-Guinean border acknowledged the incident and told this paper that same has been reported to the appropriate Liberian authorities
"We will soon arrange for a joint security meeting with the Guinean authorities to discuss the issue," one of the NBI agents told this paper.
When the head of custom at the Liberian Guinean border, Madam Beatrice Brown was contacted on the matter, she refused to comment on grounds that she was having lunch.
Ganta, the main commercial city in northern Nimba County, which is also the main border crossing point with neighboring Guinea, has seven sub ports of entry, but the customs boss also refused to comment whether travelers are pouring with goods within the seven sub ports.
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