Femi Adi/ Kaduna 

Nigerian Shiite Muslims today claimed that 25 persons, including three children of their leader,  were killed in Friday’s   clash between the sect members  and soldiers at Sabon-Gari in Zaria,  Kaduna state.

Though the Police have denied the figures insisting that  four  persons were killed , the Kaduna Police Public Relations Officer , Aminu Lawan said investigation has been launched. The army also said they were probing the bloody clash.

The police PRO said the police would come out with the actual figure of casualties.

But the Islamic sect   maintained they have buried  twenty -five  members already.

Zakzaky’s three sons shot dead  by soldiers. L-R, Mahmood, Hamid, Ahmad

Ibrahim Musa, the Public Relations Officer of  the Zaria based Shi’ite sect  said among those shot were the three  sons of the leader of the group, Sheikh Ibraheem El’Zakzaky and a woman with a baby strapped to her back. Three of El-Zakzaky’s sons died.

According to Musa ,  members  were  on a peaceful procession , when soldiers  opened fire on them without any provocation

He further said   the procession, which took off from Sabon Gari Jumaat Mosque, reached Kofar Doka peacefully with no incident until when  some soldiers attacked the crowd at the PZ Junction in Zaria.

But while the statement claimed that the  sect members went on the  procession peacefully , a security source told P.M.News the clash erupted after some  soldiers stationed to give them protection were abducted .

The source  said the soldiers shot at the procession  to stop them from attacking other security personnel.

  ” We can’t wait and allow them to kill us before we reacted “, he said.  

In another press statement, Sheikh El-Zakzaky said members of the movement were on a normal peaceful annual Qudus (religious) procession in support of Palestinians, which was observed all over the world.

He said that on Friday the movement had in its custody 16 corpses, while nine corpses were taken to the teaching hospital in the night apart from his three children.

He added that the soldiers killed three more people on Saturday morning when they were passing in front of Hussainiya, headquarters of the movement.

“One of my sons Mahmud, student of Almustapha University, Beirut ,was shot at the abdomen and started bleeding, we tried to rush him to the hospital but the soldiers blocked everywhere along the way and he bled to death.

“The soldiers also arrested some people, including three of my sons, they were taken alive and later killed two of them.

“They include Ahmad, a Chemical Engineering student at Shenyang University, China; Hamid, an Aeronautical Engineer at Xian University, China, while Ali is still alive but wounded on the leg,” he said.

El-Zakzaky said it was the police that assisted the group in locating the whereabouts of the people in Basawa Barracks.

“When we demanded for the release of our people the army refused (and said) that they would take them to Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH) for medication, not knowing that the two were killed.