The Ghanaian army has reported that at least seven "illegal miners" were killed in clashes with soldiers on Saturday in the southern Ashanti region of the country.

A Ghanaian small-scale miners' association reported on Sunday that soldiers killed nine unarmed individuals at an AngloGold Ashanti mine on Saturday night. The army, however, stated that seven illegal miners had been killed in a firefight.

Kofi Adams, the local chairperson of the Ghana National Association of Small Scale Miners, told Reuters that nine people were killed, and fourteen others were severely injured in the incident at the Obuasi gold mining site, located in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Adams clarified that the victims were unarmed.

Earlier, Ghana's armed forces claimed that around 60 illegal miners, armed with locally manufactured rifles and other weapons, breached the mine's security fence at approximately 11:00 pm (2300 GMT) on Saturday. The miners allegedly opened fire on a military patrol deployed at the site, prompting a shootout.

"This is unprecedented and it's difficult to understand why this happened," Adams remarked, emphasizing that in the past, trespassers on the site had been driven away with warning shots rather than violence.

In response to the incident, Ghana's President John Dramani Mahama ordered an immediate investigation, calling the event "tragic" in a statement issued on Sunday. The government has also instructed AngloGold Ashanti to cover the medical expenses of those injured and the cost of the victims' burials.

AngloGold Ashanti, a Johannesburg-listed company, owns both the Iduapriem and Obuasi mines in southern Ghana. In the previous year, these two mines produced over 490,000 ounces of gold. However, the company could not be reached for comment immediately.