Nigerian troops Wednesday buried the bodies of hundreds of victims of an alleged military massacre of Shiite Muslims to hide the death toll, the Shiite Islamic Movement in Nigeria said, reports AP.

Wednesday’s allegation comes as human rights advocates and the United States called for an investigation following the army’s raid on Nigerian Shiites in which hundreds of people were reportedly killed and Shiite leader Ibraheem Zakzaky suffered four bullet wounds.

The military said it acted after Shiites tried to assassinate Nigeria’s army chief. Army spokesman Col. Sani Usman did not immediately respond to an email late Wednesday requesting comment on the burial charges.

Details of the weekend violence in Zaria have been slow to emerge because the three attacked areas of the northern town have been on lockdown with no one allowed to enter or leave.
Shiite spokesman Ibrahim Musa said soldiers took the bodies from the mortuary of Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital and buried them in mass graves on Wednesday. His statement did not explain how he got the information.

“The Nigerian army has desecrated our dead,” Musa said. “We hereby demand the location of the mass burial, and the interrogation of those who ordered the operation.”

Human rights groups say as many as 1,000 people may have been killed.

“The United States calls on the government of Nigeria to quickly, credibly, and transparently investigate these events in Zaria and hold to account any individuals found to have committed crimes,” the U.S. Embassy said in a statement.
“It is essential that all sides refrain from actions that further destabilize the situation,” U.S. Ambassador James Entwhistle added.

Amnesty International said in a statement late Tuesday that the shooting of members of the Shiite group in Zaria “must be urgently investigated … and anyone found responsible for unlawful killings must be brought to justice.”

“Whilst the final death toll is unclear, there is no doubt that there has been a substantial loss of life at the hands of the military,” said M.K. Ibrahim, director of Amnesty International, Nigeria.

But the Shiite movement, which has millions of followers in Nigeria, rejected the investigative panel it said has been set up following a visit to Zaria on Tuesday by Interior Minister Abdulrahman Dambazau.
Musa said it has no confidence in a panel led by the area police commander because he is junior in rank to the alleged perpetrators of the killings.

details: http://www.reportsafrique.com/armyshiite-clash-army-buries-victims-to-hide-massacre-toll/

You people have come again with your fake news. Continue.

Honestly I dont know these group

[b]honestly speaking, what happened on the road is very much irrelevant. Both sides are wrong there.

What is relevant to me is that the army used the earlier road incident as excuse/cover up/pretext to launch two assaults at the worship center and at the cleric's home. During the siege and raid many were killed and the structures got demolished. These are crimes against humanity committed and human rights violations. No one really care that the army reacted -by taking law into their hands -to road block and many understand that the blocking of road and confronting soldiers who don't value lives is wrong. The problem is the siege on the house and the hussainiyyah.

Many are distracted by what happened on the road. The army is using the road incident to cover up their assault on and demolition of the house and hussainiyyah. Many lives were wasted.That is wrong and unjustifiable even under military rule.

The siege and assault on the home and worship center came after the road incident had ended. Why?

The COAS should please not resign. He should either remain and continue to tarnish the image of the APC government and the image of the country, or let him be sacked immediately and punished for his crimes. This is a democracy and no one should be a victim of religious persecution. Citizens should be free to choose what beliefs they want to follow.[/b]

Front page please.

Whether true or not, this is a dangerous precedence in a democracy.

N.A thou!

Nigerian army does not value human lives. If you watched the heavily edited 9:22mins/secs video release by the army and listened carefully towards the ending part, you will over hear one of the soldiers saying that "oga say make una dispose all the body". Am not supporting the shiites over their unruly behaviour towards the army over the road block but that's not an excuse to terminate people's lives. And then proceeding to their worship center and their leader's to kill anything that moves and demolish all their houses. That's bad.