A Nigerian commission has found that the army killed 348 people from a minority Shia Muslim sect last December and has called for the prosecution of those involved, reports VOA.
"The Nigerian army used excessive force," said the judicial inquiry in its report, published Monday. It said troops that took part in the three-day military raid on the northern city of Zaria should be identified "with a view to prosecuting them."
The Nigerian army raided the headquarters of Shia Muslim leader Ibraheem Zakzaky in December, sparking three days of clashes in the area. One soldier was also killed in the violence. Zakzaky was injured in the raid and has been in detention since then.
The army accused Zakzaky's movement of attempting to kill Nigeria's army chief.
The movement said that the accusations were baseless since the members who stopped the convoy were unarmed. It further explained that the gathering was for a ceremony at their Husainiyyah base, to change the flag on the dome of the building to herald the beginning of the month of Rabiul /Auwal- the birth month of the Prophet of Islam, Prophet Muhammad.
“Any excuse given by the military as a reason for besieging the Hussainiyyah and firing for hours, leading to the death of a yet unspecified number of people, is considered the lie of the decade,” the movement has been reported to say.
The inquiry said it received thousands of documents and more than 80 witness testimonies during the course of the investigation.
The commission inquiry approves earlier reports indicating violance against Shia minorities in Zaria. Back then American Herald Tribune reported, activists and locals report that a large number of forces crashed al-Zakzaky’s residence, destroying it and killing many locals around the residence who were trying to defend the cleric, and afterwards arresting the cleric and his wife by force.
Among those killed were the second in command to al-Zakzaky, Shekh Muhammad Turi, and the group’s spokesman, Ibrahim Usman.
Shias in Nigeria have been victims of multiple attacks by the Nigerian Army, and by the Takfiri miltiant group, Boko Haram.
On the 27th of last month, Boko Haram declared responsibility of a bomb attack which targeted the Nigerian Shia during an annual religious procession in the northern state of Kano. The bomb attack had left 20 people dead.
The Nigerian army had also targeted the Shia in the country on August, last year, in a pro-Palestinian demonstration condemning Israeli attacks on Palestinians. In those attacks, three of Sheikh al-Zakzaky’s sons were killed.
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