Nigeria Shias Reject Government Probe As Boko Haram 'Slaughters' Villagers

Sheikh Zakzaky, leader of the IMN, is inspired by Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini BBC

Shia Muslims in Nigeria have rejected a panel set up by the government to investigate a military crackdown in which they say hundreds of their members were killed in northern Zaria city. The military accuses the pro-Iranian sect, known as the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), of trying to assassinate army chief Gen Tukur Buratai.

GRAPHITTI NEWS/BBC Africa Live report continues:

But IMN denied the allegation and said its unarmed members were attacked and its shrine destroyed by security forces at the weekend. 

Troops are accused of attacking the Shia headquarters in Zaria city Right Africa

Yesterday, Nigeria's Minister of Interior, Abdurrahman Dambazau, asked a local police chief to investigate what happened and report back to the government.

However, an IMN leader, Malam Yakubu Yahaya, told the BBC that they will not co-operate with the investigation panel, and demanded an immediate release of their leader, Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky, who is being detained by the military.

"We are not represented in the committee and we are not convinced with low-level officer asked to head the panel," he told the BBC's Yusuf Ibrahim Yakasai in Kano city.

"We want to know his [Sheikh Zakzaky's] condition. We need to speak to him," he added.

Hundreds of Shia followers took to the streets in six major northern cities yesterday to express their frustration over what happened.

Shias in Nigeria

*Shias are minority but their numbers are increasing

*The IMN, formed in the 1980s, is the main Shia group in the country

*They operate their own schools and hospitals in some northern states

*They have a history of clashes with the security forces

*The IMN is backed by Shia-dominated Iran and its members often go there to study

*Sunni jihadist group Boko Haram condemns Shias as heretics who should be killed

Boko Haram 'Slaughters' Villagers

Media reports say at least 30 people were killed when suspected Boko Haram militants raided some villages in the volatile north-east Nigeria, a local vigilante said, AFP news agency reports.  "Most of the victims were slaughtered and most of the wounded (had suffered) machete cuts," Mustapha Karimbe said.

Twenty others were injured in the attack that took place over the weekend in the villages of Warwara, Mangari and Bura-Shika in Borno state.

News of the raids is only emerging due to poor communication in the area. 

The Islamist militants are said to have  invaded the villages, hacking and slaughtering their victims before setting the villages on fire, AFP reports.

The area is near Buratai, the hometown of Nigeria's army chief Gen Tukur Yusuf Buratai.  

Boko Haram has lost most of the territories it control to the Nigerian military, but they continue to carry out suicide and hit and run attacks in some areas of Borno state.