Sheikh Zakzaky’s Painful Image after Zaria Carnage; the Shia Leader Severely Injured and in Critical Condition.
The Nigerian army deadly attacked on Saturday on residence of the leader of the Islamic Movement, Sheikh Ibrahim al-Zakzaky, which led to the death and injury of dozens of the movement’s members.
According to Haroon Bainavi, Nigerian political activist, Sheikh Zakzaky was shot and wounded during the attacks.
“We don’t know where he is or where they took him,” he also added.
The activists and local residents said that a large number of soldiers torched and destroyed several parts of al-Zakzaky’s house before arresting the cleric on Sunday. The army eventually overtook the home of the leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, killing many people.
Sources said that several people were killed or injured when the Nigerian government forces opened fire on local residents who were attempting to protect the cleric with their bodies.
The wife, son and the second in command to the leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, Sheikh Muhammad Turi, and the group’s spokesman, Ibrahim Usman, are reported to be among the dead.
According to the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, the troops have also rounded up several peace activists who were attending a peace march against the army’s brutality.
The developments followed the Saturday violence between troops and Muslims in the country’s city of Zaria, Kaduna State, in which at least 30 people were killed and many more injured, but according to local sources more than 300 people have been killed.
Reports said soldiers opened fire on the people attending a ceremony in Hussainiyyah Baqeeyatullah, a religious center. The Shias had reportedly stopped the convoy of the Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Yusuf Buratai as the top Shia cleric was planning a speech in the religious center.
Authorities accuse the Shia cleric of trying to assassinate the Nigerian army chief, a charge that he has vehemently denied.