The leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, also known as Shiites, Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, said on Saturday that soldiers killed 35 members of his movement, including three of his biological children after a procession in Zaria, Kaduna State.
On Friday when the sect were in procession to mark the annual Quds day , they clashed with soldiers at the popular PZ roundabout in the ancient city resulting in the death of the sons of the Shiites leader and four others.
The crisis began when the soldiers tried to disperse a procession in Zaria where members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria denounced Israel’s aggression against the people of Gaza.
However, El-Zakzaky, who confirmed the killings at a press conference on Saturday, said the soldiers actually killed 35 of his followers, including three of his children.
El-Zakzaky explained that as of Friday when the trouble started, there were 16 corpses in their custody while nine other corpses were taken away by the soldiers to the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, also in Zaria.
The renowned cleric, also said three of his members were mauled down by the soldiers early this morning in front of Hussainiya, the headquarters of the movement.
El-Zakzaky said, “One of my sons Mahmud, student of Almustapha University, Beirut (Middle East) was shot in the abdomen and started bleeding. We tried to rush him to the hospital but the soldiers blocked everywhere along the way and he bled to death.
“The soldiers also arrested some people, including three of my sons, they were taken alive but two of them were later killed.”
He said those killed were Ahmad, a Chemical Engineering student at Shenyang University, China; and Hamid, an Aeronautical Engineering student at Xian University, China. El-Zakzaky however said that another of his sons, Ali, who was injured in the leg, was still alive.
“When we demanded for the release of our people the army refused and said that they would take them to the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital for medication not knowing that the two had been killed. I want to assure you that these two children were cold-bloodedly murdered because they were taken alive.”
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