Two people have died and two officers of Ghana's National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS) were shot during a violent confrontation at Manso Keniago in the Amansie South District of the Ashanti Region on Wednesday, 11 November 2026. The clash broke out as a NAIMOS task force tried to move excavators seized during an anti-illegal mining operation out of the community.

According to reports from Ghanaian outlets, a group of suspected illegal miners and residents blocked the road and pelted the officers' vehicles with stones, damaging windscreens, as the team attempted to transport the seized equipment to a secure location. NAIMOS said in a statement issued on 11 November that its personnel encountered an armed group that tried to intercept the operation, and that officers fired warning shots in an attempt to deter the group. Two members of the task force sustained gunshot wounds during the confrontation.

Death toll reports differ as details emerge

Two fatalities have been confirmed by multiple Ghanaian news outlets, citing MyJoyOnline, although the identities of the dead have not been released and the precise circumstances of the deaths remain unclear. Other local reports have given different figures, with some reporting three people killed and others reporting four feared dead, so the final toll has not yet been firmly established. No confirmed information on arrests or further injuries had been published at the time of reporting.

NAIMOS condemned the attack on its personnel and warned that threats and violence against its officers would not be tolerated. The Secretariat said it would continue enforcement operations across the country despite attempts to intimidate its teams. The incident is the latest deadly encounter in Ghana's long-running campaign against illegal small-scale mining, known locally as galamsey.

A campaign facing growing resistance

The confrontation comes as NAIMOS intensifies its nationwide operations. At a media briefing on 22 October, Director of Operations Colonel K. S. Appiah said the Secretariat had conducted 738 operational activities between 13 June and 30 September, covering about 50,662 kilometres. The operations included reconnaissance, mobile and riverine patrols, raids and community engagement across the Ashanti, Western, Western North, Central and Eastern regions.

Colonel Appiah said the operations had destroyed 1,970 changfan machines and 863 makeshift structures linked to illegal mining, while officers recovered 74 firearms and 551 rounds of ammunition and seized excavators, water pumps, vehicles and other equipment. Suspects arrested during the operations were handed over for investigation and prosecution.

NAIMOS has also launched Operation Green Shield, a military-backed intervention to clear illegal miners from forest reserves, beginning in the Atewa Forest Reserve on 27 October. On 2 November, one suspected illegal miner was killed and another injured in an alleged exchange of gunfire during that operation, with four suspects arrested. Manso Keniago itself has repeatedly featured in reports on the human cost of illegal mining: in September 2026, seven illegal miners were confirmed dead after a mining pit collapsed at Manso Domi Keniago.

The latest deaths underline the risks facing enforcement teams in communities where illegal mining has become a source of livelihood for some residents, and where seized equipment is fiercely contested. An official account from NAIMOS, the Ghana Armed Forces or the police will be important in establishing exactly what happened at Manso Keniago and whether the deaths resulted from the actions of security personnel or other circumstances.

What is NAIMOS?

NAIMOS is Ghana's National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat, the body leading the fight against illegal mining, known as galamsey. It carries out raids, seizes equipment such as excavators and changfan machines, and works with the Ghana Navy, police and Forestry Commission to protect rivers and forest reserves.

What is galamsey?

Galamsey is the local term for illegal small-scale gold mining in Ghana. It has caused severe environmental damage, polluting rivers and destroying farmland and forest, and has repeatedly led to deadly accidents and violent clashes with enforcement teams.

Sources: Apt News Ghana and BlackStar Times. The NAIMOS statement on the two wounded officers was also reported by Gh Extractives.