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Monday 14 December 2015
military-shiite-muslims-clash-northern-nigeria
Protesters under the auspices
of pro-Iranian shiite group the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, march on
July 25, 2014 (AFP Photo/Aminu Abubakar)
Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - Deadly clashes erupted between the
military and Shiite Muslims in Zaria, northern Nigeria, which also left
the group's headquarters and the home of its leader destroyed, witnesses
said Sunday.
Armed soldiers carried out crackdowns on the
pro-Iranian Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) following an incident on
Saturday involving the convoy of the chief of army staff.
The IMN,
which seeks to establish an Islamic state through an Iranian-styled
revolution, has been at loggerheads with Nigeria's secular authorities,
leading to occasionally violent confrontations.
The group's leader, Ibrahim Zakzaky, has periodically been incarcerated for alleged incitement and subversion.
Northern Nigeria is majority Muslim and largely Sunni.
IMN
spokesman Ibrahim Musa claimed dozens of the group's members were
killed when soldiers opened fire and "hundreds more were injured and
arrested" when Zakzaky's home and the sect's mosque were attacked.
Zakzaky's
deputy and the group's head of security were among the dead but the
whereabouts of Zakzaky and his family was unknown, he added.
There
was no independent confirmation of the death toll, although army
spokesman Colonel Sani Usman said Sunday evening there was "loss of
lives", without specifying numbers.
Local residents said soldiers
backed by tanks invaded the Gyallesu area of Zaria and fought running
battles through the night with hundreds of IMN members trying to block
troops from reaching Zakzaky's home.
Hundreds of sect members had
mobilised from different parts of the north in response to an appeal on
social media from the IMN leader for protection.
"Throughout the
night gunfire rang all over the neighbourhood as soldiers kept opening
fire on hundreds of Shia followers who kept trooping to the house of
their leader to guard it," said local Balarabe Gwargwaje.
"The house has since been demolished," he added.
On
Saturday, Shiite faithful blocked the main road outside their
Husseiniyya religious centre, where hundreds had gathered for a
ceremony.
The crowds obstructed traffic, including the convoy of Nigeria army chief Tukur Yusuf Buratai, witnesses and the military said.
The military claimed the Shiites attacked Buratai, which left soldiers no option but to retaliate.
The
army said IMN members, who set barricades and bonfires on the road,
were armed with "dangerous weapons" in a "deliberate attempt to
assassinate the chief of army staff and members of his entourage".
"The
troops responsible for the safety and security of the Chief of Army
Staff on hearing explosion and firing were left with no choice than to
defend him and the convoy at all cost as well as open up the barricaded
road for law abiding citizens," it added.
Buratai was on an official visit to the city, the statement issued late Saturday said.
IMN
spokesman Musa, however, said there was "no reason" for opening fire
and the group was made up of "defenceless people out to perform a
religious ceremony".
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