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Nigerian army killed 350 and secretly buried the bodies, Amnesty says
Source: The Guardian
Nigerian army killed 350 and secretly buried the bodies, Amnesty says
Amnesty International report says military shot and burned members
of Islamic Movement in Nigeria last December and secretly buried the
bodies
Sam Jones
Friday 22 April 2016 00.01 BST
The Nigerian military has been urged to “come clean” over the deaths of 350 civilians who are alleged to have been shot or burned alive and then dumped in a mass grave following a confrontation in the north of the country last December.
A new report from Amnesty International, which includes witness testimony and satellite images of a possible mass grave, accuses the military of illegally attacking members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) and then trying to cover up the atrocities.
Between 12 and 14 December last year, more than 350 men, women and children belonging to the Shia sect are thought to have been killed in the town of Zaria in Kaduna state. Violence erupted after IMN supporters – some of whom were armed with batons, knives and machetes – refused to allow an army convoy to pass along a road close to the group’s headquarters.
The military has claimed that the vehicle carrying the Nigerian chief of army staff, General Tukur Buratai, was attacked with a petrol bomb and that the convoy came under fire. IMN members, however, have denied the claims.
After the initial clash, the military is alleged to have surrounded areas in which IMN members had gathered and begun to fire at them both deliberately and indiscriminately.
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Amnesty International report says military shot and burned members
of Islamic Movement in Nigeria last December and secretly buried the
bodies
Sam Jones
Friday 22 April 2016 00.01 BST
The Nigerian military has been urged to “come clean” over the deaths of 350 civilians who are alleged to have been shot or burned alive and then dumped in a mass grave following a confrontation in the north of the country last December.
A new report from Amnesty International, which includes witness testimony and satellite images of a possible mass grave, accuses the military of illegally attacking members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) and then trying to cover up the atrocities.
Between 12 and 14 December last year, more than 350 men, women and children belonging to the Shia sect are thought to have been killed in the town of Zaria in Kaduna state. Violence erupted after IMN supporters – some of whom were armed with batons, knives and machetes – refused to allow an army convoy to pass along a road close to the group’s headquarters.
The military has claimed that the vehicle carrying the Nigerian chief of army staff, General Tukur Buratai, was attacked with a petrol bomb and that the convoy came under fire. IMN members, however, have denied the claims.
After the initial clash, the military is alleged to have surrounded areas in which IMN members had gathered and begun to fire at them both deliberately and indiscriminately.
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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/22/nigerian-army-killed-350-secretly-buried-bodies-amnesty-says
