The wife of the leader of Nigeria's main Shia Muslim sect is alive, the Nigerian army says, denying earlier reports that she was killed in clashes with the army in northern Kaduna state.
Malam Zeenat Ibrahim is in army custody with her husband, Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky, leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), it says.
Speaking to the media, an army head in the Kaduna division, Maj Gen Oyebado, did not confirm or deny the death of Sheikh Zakzaky's son, who the IMN had also said was killed in the clashes, BBC reported.
According to the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, the troops have also rounded up several peace activists who were attending a peace march against the army’s brutality. The developments followed the Saturday violence between troops and Muslims in the country’s city of Zaria, Kaduna State, in which at least 30 people were killed and many more injured, but according to local sources more than 300 people have been killed.
Reports said soldiers opened fire on the people attending a ceremony in Hussainiyyah Baqeeyatullah, a religious center. The Shias had reportedly stopped the convoy of the Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Yusuf Buratai as the top Shia cleric was planning a speech in the religious center.
Authorities accuse the Shia cleric of trying to assassinate the Nigerian army chief, a charge that he has vehemently denied.
/149