Members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), otherwise known as Shiites have alleged that four of there members were killed by the police while 20 others were injured on Friday in Kaduna, while celebrating “Quds Day”.
The IMN members were said to have gathered at the Katsina Roundabout by Ahmadu Bello Way, Kaduna to commence procession marking the international religious when the police came to disperse the procession.
Speaking in an interview after the incident, Aliyu Tirmiziy, one of the leaders of the IMN, said four of their members were killed while 20 others were injured.
“We usually come out on the last Friday of every Ramadan to protest peacefully and show our support to the people of Palestine for the inhuman treatment they are being forced to face as is being done by others across the globe.
“We usually have a peaceful procession but this time around, as we were about to start, the police came and threw tear gas at us and started shooting and in the process, four of our members were killed while 20 were injured”, he said.
The incident caused panick among residents of Kaduna, especially, traders along the Ahmadu Bello Way who quickly closed shops and ran to safe areas.
However reacting to the incident,
Mansir Hasan, spokesperson of the Kaduna state police command debunk the allegations that four members of the religious group were killed by the police, insisting that no live ammunition was used to disperse them.
He said three police personnel were injured during the incident and taken to the hospital for treatment.
The police spokesperson said, “We got the information that the members of the proscribed IMN are going to hold a massive protest in the state and the command deployed its men to most of the strategic places to stop them from blocking the road, especially, Ahmadu Bello Way Kaduna.
“On sighting our men, the IMN members started throwing stones, catapults, and locally made guns against our men, which led to three of our men sustaining injuries and now receiving treatment at a police clinic”.
Hasan said the police used teargas to disperse the Shi’ites members which also led to the arrest of eight suspects.
Hassan said the items recovered from the suspects include, three locally fabricated guns, catapults and other dangerous locally made weapons.
Hassan challenged the IMN to produce corpses of those killed.
“If they claimed four of their members were killed, where were the bodies and which hospital were they taken to?
How can we identify them? Our men didn’t use live ammunition but only used teargas to disperse them”, he said.
