[Iran Press TV] A Nigerian Shia group says more than 700 of its members are still unaccounted for a month after the deadly attacks by Nigerian forces against Shia Muslims in the northern city of Zaria.In a statement released on Thursday, Ibrahim Musa, the front man for the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), whose leader Sheikh Ibrahim al-Zakzaky is in police custody, said about 730 people have gone missing since December 12, 2015.
"These missing people were either killed by the army or are in detention" but their "whereabouts are still unknown and undisclosed," Musa said.
He further noted that some 220 IMN members were in a prison, located in the city of Kaduna, the capital of the state with the same name, while others were in military custody elsewhere across the African state.
On December 12 last year, Nigerian soldiers attacked Shia Muslims attending a ceremony at a religious center in the northern city of Zaria, accusing them of blocking the convoy of the army's chief of staff and attempting to assassinate him. The Shias have categorically denied the allegations.
No, no! Certainly not!
| You try to take down the |
Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'!
him after reportedly killing those attempting to protect him, including one of the IMN's big shots and its front man.