A devastating shooting in Denase, Afigya Kwabre North District, Ashanti Region, on Thursday night, July 24, 2025, left two dead, including Peggy Ayelbassah, a young New Patriotic Party (NPP) activist en route to Salaga for a nursing college admission interview, and three others injured.
The attack, which occurred around 9 p.m. on a Kumasi-Tamale-bound Toyota minibus near the Church of Pentecost, involved two AK-47-wielding gunmen who fired 14 rounds, killing Peggy and a Mamprusi activist identified as Abiola, while injuring a military officer and two others. The injured are receiving treatment at Offinso Saint Patrick Hospital.
Collins Adomako-Mensah, MP for Afigya Kwabre North, expressed profound grief in a Facebook post on July 25, noting that Peggy had messaged him on WhatsApp the previous day about her interview.
“The news of your death shattered me. Your dedication to my political ambitions will be difficult to replace,” he wrote, mourning the loss of the Simms Senior High School alumna.
Kwabena Asamoah, Denase Electoral Area Unit Committee Chairman, described the attack as a deliberate, targeted assault rather than a robbery, raising suspicions of a contract killing possibly linked to the Bawku conflict.
The Ghana Police Service, led by Ashanti North Regional Commander DCOP Prince Jude Cobbinah, has launched a manhunt for the assailants, with crime scene investigators recovering 14 spent shells. The incident, following the July 22 killing of the Kusasi Chief in Asawase, has intensified fears in the region, prompting the Ashanti Regional Security Council (REGSEC) to ban motorbike operations after 7 p.m. Residents are demanding enhanced security to curb escalating violence, as the community grieves Peggy’s unfulfilled dream of becoming a nurse.
