348 Shiite Muslims Killed In Nigerian Army Attacks In 2015
MEP: The Nigerian army has reportedly killed 348 Shiite Muslims and dumping them in a mass grave in the northern city of Kaduna late last year, a government-commissioned report said Monday.
On December 12, 2015, Nigerian soldiers attacked a religious ceremony where hundreds of Shiite Muslims attended in the city of Zaria, accusing them of blocking the convoy of the army’s chief of staff Lieutenant General Tukur Yusuf Buratai and attempting to assassinate him.
In total 349 people were killed including one soldier and one Shiite worshipper who died later in custody.
In the following day, Nigerian forces raided the house of senior Shia cleric Sheikh Ibrahim al-Zakzaky, the leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), and arrested him after killing those attempting to protect him, including one of IMN’s senior leaders and its spokesman.
Zakzaky, who lost an eye and was left partly paralysed in the violence, has been held since December.
