Kaduna state soldiers shot 4 mourners in Zaria

A combined team of soldiers and police on the orders of Governor El-Rufa’i opened fire on Shia Muslims in Zaria, Nigeria, while peacefully mourning the tragic killings of 34 people by the military under the Jonathan’s administration in 2014, injuring 4 people with gunshots.

A combined team of soldiers and police on the orders of Governor El-Rufa’i opened fire on Shia Muslims in Zaria, Nigeria, while peacefully mourning the tragic killings of 34 people by the military under the Jonathan’s administration in 2014, injuring 4 people with gunshots.

The incident was made known to newsmen in a press statement released by the Shia community’s media official  in Nigeria, Ibrahim Musa.

The statement said, “a Couple of minutes after the start of the program, the combined security operatives in about ten vehicles laid siege on the venue, the Darur Rahma cemetery, where the victims of the 2014 military attack were laid to rest, in the outskirts of Zaria city, along Zaria to Jos highway.

 “We learnt that apart from the four people who suffered gunshots as a result of the indiscriminate shootings by the security agents, several others escaped with minor injuries, while some were arrested.”

 In reference to the shortage of security men in various flashpoints in the state, the statement said, “The Shia community condemns this unnecessary show of force by Governor Elrufa’i, believing that this soldiers and police should have been better deployed along Abuja – Kaduna and Birnin Gwari – Kaduna highways, where the menace of armed robbers and kidnappers has become rampant due to shortage of the security forces.