At least two persons are feared killed during a clash between members of the proscribed Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), otherwise known as Shiites, and the police in Kaduna State.
A crowd of IMN members had held a procession on Sunday in the Kaduna state capital and Zaria, before the unfortunate incident took place.
The march was held in commemoration of the Ashura, a religious rite held by Shiites globally on the 10th of the Muharram Islamic calendar.
While the procession was ongoing along the popular Ahmadu Bello Way in the state capital, the crowd was dispersed by a team of policemen who arrived at the scene.
Although the police authorities in Kaduna State have yet to confirm the incident, the spokesman for the IMN, Ibrahim Musa, issued a statement.
Musa claimed that some heavily-armed security forces came and started shooting at the crowd with live ammunition and in the process, two members were killed and many others got injured.
He also alleged that four other IMN members were wounded and two arrested by the police in Zaria when they started shooting sporadically also to disperse hundreds of IMN members who participated in the annual Ashura procession in the city and concluded it peacefully.
According to the IMN spokesman, the Ashura procession was commemorated peacefully virtually in over 300 towns and villages in Nigeria without threat from the authorities except in Kaduna State.
He said the police have allegedly killed four members of the Shiite group and injured over 15 others in the last 10 days of mourning activities of the group.
Both the Kaduna State and the Federal Government had outlawed the IMN and their activities all over the country.
In July 2019, the Federal Government ordered the proscription of the movement and designated the activities of the Shiite organisation in any part of the country as ”acts of terrorism and illegality.”
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Crime