Bawku — Personnel of the Ghana Immigration Service have intensified patrols at the Ghana-Burkina Faso border at Mognori, and Ghana-Togo border, in Bawku in the Upper East Region to avert any acts of terrorism.
The heavy security detail at the border towns has been occasioned by suspected terrorist attack that claimed two lives, including a local Imam at a village called Benyayile in neighbouring Burkina Faso.
The attack took place on Monday, and the assailants targeted influential people, such as Imams, leaders of the various religious denominations among others, an Immigration source disclosed to the Ghanaian Times, here.
The tragic incident which occurred so close to the Bansi community at Bawku, the source said, saw hundreds of the Burkinabes trying to cross over to the Mognori border, but they were repelled by the personnel of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) detailed there.
According to the source, the immigration personnel might not have been able to control the situation, "but the overflow of a river which had cut off the foreign nationals from crossing over to the country (Ghana) also did the trick."
Any of the militant groups are yet to claim responsibility of the recent killings and sporadic gunshots in the neighbouring country, but security sources suspected the attack might have been carried by the al-Qaeda and Boko Haram, some Islamist groups, who had over the years wreaked havoc on tens of hundreds of lives and property in neighbouring Burkina Faso.
An immigration officer in one of the border towns who spoke on condition of anonymity complained that inadequate logistics could frustrate their efforts in fighting the likely spillover of terrorist activities to the country, and pleaded with government through the Ministry of Interior, to as a matter of urgency, address the situation.
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"We only have one vehicle at the Mognori and Missiga border. Our tent (pavilion) has also collapsed because of heavy windstorm of late, so there is an urgent need for government to address these challenges," the source said.
Independent checks by the Ghanaian Times at the borders have revealed that the sporadic shootings have gone down, and calm has since returned to the communities as the Benyayile community in Burkina Faso has been taken over by heavy security patrols.
Residents at the border communities in Paga (Ghana-Burkina border town) are asking the PagaCommand of the GIS to beef up security at the town as similar incident could happen in communities by virtue of the porous nature of the border.
