Army/Shiite Clash: 347 Corpses Buried In One Grave – Kaduna Govt

Shiites

The Kaduna State Government said on Monday that 347 persons were killed during the Dec. 12 Shiite/Nigerian Army clash in Zaria.

The Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Alhaji Balarabe Lawal, disclosed this in a government submission at the ongoing Public Hearing of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the clash.

Lawal, who led a six-man government witnesses before the panel, said that 191 corpses were taken from the Nigerian Army Depot, Zaria, and were buried in Mando area in Kaduna, while 156 corpses were conveyed from Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH), Zaria, to the same Mando area.

According to the SSG, the corpses were of youth Members of the Islam Movement (IMN) who allegedly attempted to attack the convoy of the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, on Dec. 12, 2015, in Zaria, and had been committed into a single grave at the Mando area jointly supervised by the state government officials and about 40 men of the Nigerian Army, led by an officer in the rank of a Major.

The SSG said 189 suspects were being prosecuted for alleged involvement in the Zaria crises while one suspect had died in custody.

He said the state government had received several security reports from the Directorate of State Security (DSS) on the activities of the movement.

According to him, several measures had been taken to address the situation before it finally escalated into the clash with the Nigerian Army.