LAGOS, Nigeria — A newly outlawed Shiite Muslim group in northern Nigeria on Monday accused officials of using tear gas, clubs and sticks to round up members including women and children, as pressure grew on a minority group that the military has accused of trying to assassinate its army chief.
The Iranian-inspired Islamic Movement in Nigeria said eight members of one family were among those held in “illegal custody,” but it did not specify how many people had been detained in all.
Authorities in Kaduna state could not immediately be reached to comment. Africa’s most populous nation is almost equally divided between Christians and Muslims, most of them Sunni.
Monday’s statement was signed by Ibrahim Musa, the group’s spokesman, whose own arrest was ordered by Kaduna officials on Sunday. That order came two days after the state declared the group to be unlawful.
In this Friday, April. 1, 2016 file photo, Nigerian Shiite Muslims take to the street to protest and demanded the release of Shiite leader Ibraheem Zakzaky in Cikatsere, Nigeria. A newly outlawed Shiite Muslim group in northern Nigeria on Monday, Oct. 10, 2016 accused officials of using tear gas, clubs and sticks to round up members including women and children, as pressure grew on a minority group that the military has accused of trying to assassinate its army chief.
Sunday Alamba/AP Photo, File
A Kaduna state commission of inquiry recently said the Islamic Movement in Nigeria was responsible for provoking an attack in December 2015 on its headquarters, during which the army gunned down more than 300 Shiites. The report said the violence began with a blockade that halted the convoy of Nigeria’s army chief, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai.
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