Witness saw police carrying 15 dead bodies away in Kano

monjola sotubo 15:03 - 14 November 2016

Members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, a Shiite group, pray at a mass grave in which 300 members of the organisation are said to be buried

The police reportedly opened fire on a group of Shiites who were marching from Kano to Kaduna for a festival.

15 members of the

The police reportedly opened fire on a group of Shiites who were marching from Kano to Kaduna for the Ashura religious festival on Monday, November 14.

“The police arrived and started firing teargas canisters on the procession of Shiites to disperse them,” the witness, Ilyasu Ammani told AFP.

“I saw 15 bodies sprawled on the ground before the police evacuated them,” he added.

A police officer told AFP that his colleagues were forced to open fire because the Shiites were becoming violent.

“They injured one of our officers and our men opened fire because they were becoming violent,” the officer said.

The incident comes almost a year after a clash between the Nigerian army and members of the group in Zaria, Kaduna state which led to the capture of its leader Ibrahim El-Zakzaky.

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The activities of the IMN were recently banned in Kaduna.