By Buba Gagigo
The Assistant PRO of the Gambia Police Force, Cadet Assistant Superintendent Muhammed Y. Darboe, says the initial information they gathered in the tragic death of Yankuba Jarju, A Gambian youth, has revealed that he was shot and killed in the forest in Cassamance, while fetching firewood.
The Assistant Police PRO says the Sibanor Police Station received a telephone call from the National Assembly Member for Foni Bintang, Bakary K. Badjie, who reported a sudden death had occurred in Gifanga village, closed to the Gambia-Senegal border.
“The police sent a team to do an investigation on the matter. When they arrived in the village, they met one eyewitness, Lamin Jarju, who is one of the three boys that went to the forest to fetch firewood. Lamin told our officers that he went to the bush with Bakary Gibba, and Yankuba Jarju (Both from Gifanga village) to fetch firewood in a forest in Cassamance. They were fetching wood around the vicinity of a village call Jabijorr, In Cassamance. According to Lamin Jarju, they scattered in the forest to fetch firewood and shortly thereafter he saw a drone and eventually heard a gunshot.
“He rushed to where the sound came from, and he and Bakary Gibba found Yankuba Jarju (The Deceased) laying down on the ground. He saw blood oozing from the deceased head and observed a bullet hole. They initially took the dead body home. The police, upon arrival at the home of the deceased, negotiated with the community and took the body to the hospital in Bwiam, where a doctor pronounced him dead. It cannot be confirmed now whether shooting is done by ECOMIG soldiers or the Senegalese soldiers,” he told Kerr Fatou on Sunday night.
Yankuba Jarju, a Gambian youth from Gifanga village, in Foni, was earlier reported to be allegedly shot and killed by the Senegalese soldiers at the border of the Gambia and Cassamance region of Senegal on Sunday but Police PRO say the killing happened in Cassamance.
Editor’s Note:
In an earlier story, the victim’s name was reported as Yankuba Badjie and that he was sent to EFSTH for a postmortem. The police version of the story listed the victim as Yankuba Jarju and that he was sent to Bwiam hospital where he was pronounced dead. This is different from our initial sources of information. This is a developing story, and we continue to update as we gather more information.