Soldiers killed 300 Shi’ites, says Human Rights Watch
Ibrahim Zakzaky, Shi’ites Leader The Human Rights Watch on Wednesday stated that hundreds of Shi’ite Muslims were killed by soldiers and buried in mass graves in an “unjustified” attack earlier this month. The New York-based rights watchdog claimed in a statement that soldiers killed “at least 300” members of the radical Islamic Movement of Nigeria earlier in December when they fired “without any provocation.” It claimed that witnesses said that the soldiers disposed of hundreds of bodies by throwing them in mass graves, making it difficult for the organisation to establish an accurate death toll. The violence erupted on December 12 when members of the Shi’ite group erected a makeshift roadblock during a religious procession, blocking the path of a Nigerian army chief. “It is almost impossible to see how a roadblock by angry young men could justify the killings of hundreds of people,” Africa director at HRW, Daniel Bekele, said. “At best it was a brutal overreaction and