Shi'ite leader says military killed 3 sons, 30 supporters

Abuja - The leader of Nigeria's minority Shi'ite Muslims accused the
military on Saturday of killing three of his sons and 30 of his
supporters when they opened fire on a protest the previous day.
The military said they were fired upon first by someone in the crowd
and that they killed nine people.
The Shi'ites were protesting Israeli attacks on Gaza and also marching
to observe of a religious holiday, in the northern city of Zaria, where
Ibrahim Zakzaky's Islamic Movement of Nigeria is based, when a troop
convoy tried to pass.
"Soldiers opened fire on our people at Kuban bridge killing 30 of our
people, among which were three of my sons," Zakzaky said in a
statement. He accused the government of ordering the attack and
said two of his supporters were executed after being arrested.
"I however appeal to our people to remain calm," he said.
Defence spokesman Major-General Chris Olukolade said: "the convoy
of soldiers who were held up in the traffic created by the procession
were fired at from within the procession."
They returned fire, killing nine of the marchers and two soldiers were
wounded, he said by telephone.
Though most of Nigeria's tens of millions of Muslims are Sunni, there
are several thousand Shi'ites, mostly followers of Zakzaky, who
established a movement inspired by the 1979 Iranian revolution.
The Islamic Movement has some members who are armed, although it
seen as generally peaceful.
However, it does not recognise Nigeria's traditional Islamic authorities
or government as legitimate, saying it takes orders only from God.
And like the Sunni Islamist movement Boko Haram, it attracts poor
youths in largely Muslim north who are disenchanted with the corrupt
political establishment.
The killing in police captivity of Boko Haram founder Mohammed Yusuf
in 2009 during a crackdown in which some 800 other people also died
transformed the sect from a clerical movement into a fully fledged
armed insurrection.
The rebellion has since killed many thousands and Boko Haram is still
holding more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped in April.
The police on Saturday said it had "ordered effective and extensive
deployment of officers and men of the Nigeria Police Force and other
special operatives" to protect against possible militant attacks during
the Sallah Muslim holiday on Monday and Tuesday.