Shiite spokesman: Nigeria police fire on protesters, kill 3

The statement said: “The mobile police unit (MOPOL) attacked a peaceful protest staged by the members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria in Kaduna, killing three people on the spot, with many receiving gunshot injuries”.

However, Islamic Movement spokesman Ibrahim Musa said that soldiers had carried away about 200 bodies from around the home of its leader Ibraheem Zakzaky and human rights activists say that hundreds, perhaps as many as 1,000 people, were killed.

In a report defending its actions, the army said that some 500 of Mr Zakzaky’s followers had been seen crawling through fields of dense brush with the intent of attacking General Turakai’s convoy with petrol bombs.

The violence was sparked when Shiite faithful on Saturday blocked the main road outside their prayer centre, where hundreds had gathered for a ceremony.

The National Human Rights Commission of Nigeria said it set up a special investigations panel on Tuesday to investigate.

The latest protests were triggered by a photo that went viral on social media, purportedly showing him sitting on the ground with a bloodied face. Military officers say the sect’s members provoked the clash by blocking a convoy carrying the army’s chief of staff and that they believed his life was in danger. Odinkalu was quoting the family doctor. The movement had earlier reported that Zakzaky’s wife was among the dead from the military raids in northern Zaria town, along with two of their sons and Zakzaky’s deputy.

Shiite spokesman Ibrahim Musa said soldiers took the bodies from the mortuary of Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital and buried them in mass graves on Wednesday.

“Citizens must ask, who ordered this carnage?”

Major General Adeniyi Oyebade, another military official who spoke to the press that day, added that the government has a duty to protect against Islamist parallel governments within Nigeria.

“Of course, because of the report I got that they are mobilising, I had to order that the Gyallesu [Zakzaky’s residence] and Huissaniya [shrine] be brought down”, he said.

Ibrahim Zakzaky, a Muslim cleric born in Zaria, Kaduna, has been the leader of Nigeria’s Shiite population. The strongest response so far has come from pro-Shia Iran where protests have been held outside the Nigerian embassy in Tehran and there have also been protests in Muslim students in India. The Nigerian military notes Buratai “was on his way to the palace of the emir of Zazzau to pay homage and also attend the passing out parade of 73 regular recruits at the depot of the Nigerian army in Zaria”.

“Like many across Nigeria, I am following with concern the reports of violence in Zaria over the weekend between the Nigerian security forces and the Islamic Movement of Nigeria”. Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called his Nigerian counterpart, Geoffrey Onyeama, for an explanationnews media.

The government has been battling an insurgency in northeastern Nigeria by Boko Haram, a Sunni Muslim extremist group, for years. Boko Haram often attacks Muslims who oppose its radical vision of Islam. The article questioned why the military seems unable to stop Boko Haram attacks while it raids the unarmed Zakzaky movement with assault weapons and RPGs.

Our correspondent learnt that they later regrouped at Tudun Nupawa area where numerous sect members were said to have engaged the police in a shootout leading to injuries on both sides. If you would like to discuss another topic, look for a relevant article.

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