Six Feared Dead As Police, Shi’ites Clash In Abuja

No fewer than six members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) are feared dead in a bloody clash between the Islamic sect and security forces on Monday in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

The fiasco, which took place within the precincts of the Federal Secretariat Complex, also left a journalist with a popular TV station battling for his life after he was hit by a stray bullet.

ORIENTAL TIMES reports that members of the IMN otherwise known as Shi’ites had gathered at Nitel Junction in Wuse II district for a march to the Federal Secretariat complex in protest against the continued detention of their leader, Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky and his wife, Zeenat, by the government.

However, their street demonstration was interrupted around the Zone hosting the three organs of the federal government by armed security personnel who condoned off the area to preventing the protesters from continuing their planned protest.

In the ensuing melee, sporadic gunshots were fired to disperse the protesters, while several vehicles reportedly belonging to the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, in the vicinity were set ablaze.