Medical reports on the reported rape of some teenage girls in Nalerigu in the Northern region, have implicated some of the security operatives deployed to the town on a peace mission, the Daily Guide newspaper reports. The reports contradicts claims by top security capos that the victims were only peddling falsehood about the alleged rape case involving the combined team of police and military stationed at Nalerigu. According to medical experts, there were forceful penetration resulting in bruises and swollen vaginas. Medical experts’ explanation on the pelvic examination indicated that some of the victims suffered “erythema with torn locations and mild vaginal secretions or discharges,”giving credence to the fact that someone indeed forcibly had sex with the girls. In the case of a 16-year-old (name withheld), she suffered erythema at 6-8 o’clock at uritroitus with a small (1.2mm) tear at 8 o’clock though no bleeding and vaginal secretion was noticed. Another 14-year-old (name withheld) also suffered a slight erythema at 3 o’clock and 6 o’clock at uritroitus but with normal vaginal secretion, same as the other two who were also allegedly raped. When Daily Guide sought further medical explanation, it was revealed that when a girl suffers mild erythema, it indicates that someone had forcibly had sex with her or had sex without the consent of the victim. A combined team of military and police personnel deployed to Nalerigu were last week accused of brutalizing residents and allegedly raping a number of girls in the town. Even though their bosses had denied the allegations, the medical reports have thrown more light on the action of the rampaging soldiers who allegedly unleashed their libidos on the hapless girls. Their presence in the area was aimed at forestalling peace following the tension that enveloped the town over the death of a former People’s National Convention (PNC) parliamentary candidate, Moses Alando Banaba. The Northern Regional Security Council (REGSEC), in consultation with the various service commanders in the region, deployed the security personnel to the area soon after reports reached them that a number of houses had been razed down. The military, on arriving in the town, imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew without prior notification of REGSEC under whose instructions they were in Nalerigu. They were reported to have taken turns to rape four girls and sexually harassed others and allegedly stole their money in what could be described as arbitrary operation, generating uproar in the town the following morning. Their conduct immediately attracted public attention and widespread anger, but the Northern Regional Police Commander, ACP Awuni Angwubutoge, said it was only a medical report that could prove the victims were actually raped, and until that was proven, he was not sure his men would engage in such acts. He however promised to allow the law to take its course if it was established that some of his men, instead of carrying out their duties, engaged in the widely condemned rape and sexual abuse of residents. The release of the medical reports seem not to favour the soldiers though Daily Guide learnt an independent investigative body including some officials of the Kofi Annan Peace Keeping Centre denied the claim of the poor girls who were transported to Tamale last Thursday. Moses Alando Banaba, a pharmacist at the Baptist Medical Centre, was shot and killed by one Salifu Tia aka Salifu Zongo, and this sparked tension in the town, leading to the burning of houses including that of the suspected murderer, by supporters of the deceased. Source: Daily Guide