Shiites: Nigerian army buries victims to hide massacre toll

Human rights activists said hundreds of people, perhaps as many as 1,000, were killed.

Nigeria Interior Minister Abdurrahman Dambazzau rushed to Zaria to defuse the situation himself as the army and the Islamic Movement of Nigeria traded blames over the incident.

Senior Iranian official Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has condemned the Nigerian military’s bloody crackdown on the Shia Muslim community in the African country.

Following last Saturday’s violent clash between the Nigerian Army and members of the Muslim sect, Shiite, in Zaria, Kaduna State, Iranian President, Hassan Rouhani has called President Muhammadu Buhari, on phone, over the clash which led to the death of hundreds of Shiite members. Hard-line Mashregh News referred to Lt. Gen. Tukur Yusuf Buratai, the 26th Chief of Army Staff of Nigeria, as the “butcher of Nigeria’s Shiites”.

“The sect numbering hundreds carrying unsafe weapons, barricaded the roads with bonfires, heavy stones and tires”, the Army said in a statement.

The Minister expressed disappointment over what he called continued show of disrespect for the law and breach of public peace by members of some groups in Nigeria and cautioned them to desist from such act. Musa was later quoted by the Associated Press as saying that about 200 bodies were taken away from the area about Zakzaky’s home in Zaria on Monday.

If it is, it wont be the first time the Nigerian army will be accused of human rights violations as Amnesty International accused Nigerian soldiers of committing a similar crime in their fight against Boko Haram previous year.

The military has not given casualty figures, but has denied the IMN’s claim that the wife of Sheikh Zakzaky, Zeenat Ibrahim, was killed during the weekend clashes.

He reiterated earlier reports that two of Mr Zakzaky’s sons had been killed and another wounded.

Records from the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria, put the number of the Shi’ite sect shot dead by soldiers at 61. “Citizens must ask, who ordered this carnage?”

“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.

In a statement Monday, the army said both the military and Shiites lost lives but a toll still is being compiled. Details of the weekend violence in Zaria have been slow to emerge since the three attacked areas of the northern town have been on lockdown with nobody allowed to enter or leave. Shia Muslims are said to constitute under five percent of the total Muslim population, who are mostly found in the northwestern states of Kaduna, Kano and Sokoto.

“They were arrested alive and are receiving medical attention”, El-Rufai said in an email message that implied the couple may have been wounded.

“The attacks on the homes and members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria is nothing but an indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force by the military”.

Responding to demands for action by Iranian MPs, Majlis [parliament] Speaker Ali Larijani said that Tehran was acting to help Nigerian Shiites harmed in Nigerian Army operations.

The Shiites two weeks ago suffered a suicide bombing in a procession that killed 22 people. 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.

Yesterday, the spokesman for the military, Sani Usman, described the clash as “most unfortunate” and placed culpability on the group. If you would like to discuss another topic, look for a relevant article.