Nigerian army killed Shiite Muslims without justification

Human rights activists say Nigerian troops killed many hundreds of Shiites in raids in the northern town of Zaria on December 12 through 14.

A large number of Muslim Americans have held a demonstration in NY to condemn the Nigerian military’s massacre of Shia Muslims, Press TV reports.

SaharaReporters has learned from an army general in the Nigerian military that Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky remains in military custody, contrary to statements made by Army Chief of Staff Tukur Buratai to the public.

HRW said the killing of hundreds of Shia Muslim members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), by Nigerian soldiers over three days were unjustified.

The rights group, which put the toll at over 1,000, said the Nigerian military had secretly buried hundreds of bodies in the graves after storming the house of the Shia cleric.

“In an internal military document seen by Human Rights Watch, the army said protesters appeared to be taking up positions near the back of the convoy”, the statement added. “At best it was a brutal overreaction and at worst it was a planned attack on the minority Shia group”, Bekele said.

The group’s leader, Ibrahim Zakzaky, who started Nigeria’s Shiite movement 37 years ago, was wounded and is among scores detained.

Describing the silence of the Presidency on the matter as shocking, the HRW said Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai following the incident immediately announced the establishment of a state judicial commission of inquiry to look in to the clash. The military also demolished a shrine belonging to the Muslim group with little explanation why they chose to bulldoze it.

They were killed after being arrested at the peaceful procession they staged in Kaduna on Tuesday 15-12-15 condemning the continued detention of our Leader Sheikh Ibraheem Yaqoub Zakzaky and the indiscriminate killing of our members.

Boko Haram re-emerged as a much more violent entity after security forces attacked their mosque and compound and killed some 700 people in 2009.