Nigerian Cleric Sheikh Zakzaky Survived 4 Shots: IMN Spokesman
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky has suffered injuries from 4 bullets shot by the army forces, but he is alive and under arrest, the movement’s spokesman said.
Speaking to the Tasnim News Agency, Ibrahim Musa said Nigerian authorities do not allow Sheikh Zakzaky’s family members or followers to visit him in custody, which has made his situation unclear.
Government officials have pledged to give relatives permission for visiting the prominent Shiite cleric soon, Musa noted.
On Saturday night, Nigerian military forces surrounded the house of Sheikh Zakzaky in Zaria. Heavy fighting broke out afterwards between the government forces and members of the Islamic Movement, which stretched into the early hours of Sunday.
Musa had announced earlier that soldiers on Monday carried away about 200 bodies from around the home of Sheikh Zakzaky, whose whereabouts have not been disclosed by the authorities, and hundreds more corpses were in the mortuary.
Human rights activists said hundreds of people, perhaps as many as 1,000, were killed in the raid.
The Nigerian Army alleges that members of the movement were involved in an attack on the convoy of the Chief of Nigeria’s Army Staff, Tukur Buratai. The Islamic Movement has vehemently denied the allegations.