Iran summoned Nigeria’s charge d’affaires to protest over
the Nigerian army’s deadly crackdown on pro-Iranian Shiites in the north of the
country, the official IRNA news agency reported Tuesday.
The diplomat was told the foreign ministry on Monday that
Iran “demands the Nigerian government immediately shed light on the incidents,
treat the injured, and compensate for damages,” IRNA said.
It said Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also called
for “immediate and serious action to prevent violence” against Shiites in a
telephone call to his Nigerian counterpart Geoffrey Onyeama.
The army clashed on Saturday and early Sunday in the
largely Sunni Muslim north with the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) and
arrested its leader Ibrahim Zakzaky.
The IMN seeks to establish an Islamic state through an
Iranian-styled revolution.“We have reports that bodies of our members killed
outside the house of our leader are being evacuated in trucks by soldiers,” IMN
spokesman Ibrahim Musa told AFP.
Musa said victims of the violence included Zakzaky’s
wife, son and a former IMN spokesman.
The violence was sparked when Shiite faithful on Saturday
blocked the main road outside their prayer centre, where hundreds had gathered
for a ceremony.
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