Reported By Stephen Lawan
The Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the
killings of at least 1000 members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria under the
guidance of Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky in Zaria last December has heard that the
army and state officials buried 347 victims in a mass grave shortly after the
massacre.
Speaking on the third day of the JCI,
convened by the state government of Kaduna, Secretary to Kaduna state
Government Alhaji Lawal Babalare Abbas said he was present at the mass burial
along with soldiers at the burial site in the town of Mando.
According to Alhaji Lawal Babalare
Abbas the corpses were removed from the teaching hospital and the army depot in
Zaria. They were buried at between 12-4am in the morning of Monday 14 December.
Today's revelation represents the
first official confirmation of what the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) has
been saying all along about killings of hundreds of its members by the military
and the disposal of their corpses in mass graves.
Thousands of soldiers unleashed a
three-day orgy of violence on members of the IMN on December 12 last year in
what was widely seen as a bid to curb the movement's growing popularity. At
least 1000 civilians were killed in the attacks which the army falsely accused
the IMN of starting by trying to assassinate the Chief of Army Staff, General
Tukur Buratai.
IHRC has referred the events in Zaria
to the International Criminal Court asking it to open a preliminary
investigation into the massacre. IHRC believes that the army's assault amounts
to a crime against humanity. A similar army assault in July 2014 during a
religious procession led to the deaths of 34 IMN members including three sons
of IMN leader Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky who were apparently singled out for
execution.
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