SHOCKING IN ZARIA:
‘Nigerian Soldiers Set Ablaze Hundreds of Men, Women, Children Alive’–Amnesty International
…Razed Buildings, Dumped Bodies in Mass Graves
*Says: “Crimes Demonstrates Utter Contempt for Human Life & Accountability”
*Confess: “Bodies left Littered in Streets, Piled outside Mortuary. Some injured burned Alive”
*Lament: “Nigerian Military Unlawfully Killed Over 350 Innocent Nigerians”
*Dares Nigerian Military: “Our research, Based on Witness Testimonies, Analysis of Satellite Images, Show Nigerians where you Secretly Buried Hundreds of Bodies”
* “We Were in our School Uniforms. My friend Nusaiba Abdullahi was Shot in her Forehead. We took her to a House where they Treated the Injured but, before reaching the House, she already Died”-Zainab, 16 year old fear stricken teenager narrates ordeal
BY NURENI LAWAL/CRIME REPORTER, ZARIA
ADMINSITRATION OF NIGERIA’S President Muhammadu Buhari was not spared in the latest reports issued by Amnesty International. As various inhumanity to man, genocide, arson, murder, rape committed by Nigerian Army have been compiled in a documentary for the world to see various unreported heinous crimes perpetuated by Nigerian Army without any emotional feeling of conscience or guilt.
According to Netsanet Belay, Amnesty International’s Research and Advocacy Director for Africa (unedited) : “Mass slaughter of hundreds of men, women and children by soldiers in Zaria and the attempted cover-up of this crime demonstrates an utter contempt for human life and accountability,” as it publishes evidence gathered on the ground revealing how the Nigerian military burned people alive, razed buildings and dumped victims’ bodies in mass graves.
In the report titled Unearthing the truth: Unlawful killings and mass cover-up in Zaria, which contains shocking eyewitness testimony of large-scale unlawful killings by the Nigerian military and exposes a crude attempt by the authorities to destroy and conceal evidence, Amnesty International lament that “The true horror of what happened over those two days in Zaria is only now coming to light. Bodies were left littered in the streets and piled outside the mortuary. Some of the injured were burned alive.
“Our research, based on witness testimonies and analysis of satellite images, has located one possible mass grave. It is time now for the military to come clean and admit where it secretly buried hundreds of bodies.”
Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) Supporters
This correspondent investigation showed that more than 350 people are believed to have been unlawfully killed by the military between 12 and 14 December, following a confrontation between members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) and soldiers in Zaria, Kaduna state.
Belay explained that “Some were armed with batons, knives, and machetes – had refused to clear the road near their headquarters, the Hussainiyya, for a military convoy to pass. The army has claimed that IMN supporters attacked the convoy in an attempt to assassinate the Chief of Army Staff. IMN members deny this.
“Following an initial confrontation the military surrounded other locations where IMN supporters had gathered, notably at the residential compound of IMN leader Ibrahim Al-Zakzaky. Some people were killed as a result of indiscriminate fire. Others appeared to have been deliberately targeted. All available information indicates that the deaths of protestors were the consequence of excessive, and arguably, unnecessary use of force.”
Children injured and killed
Zainab, a 16-year-old schoolgirl, told Amnesty International: “We were in our school uniforms. My friend Nusaiba Abdullahi was shot in her forehead. We took her to a house where they treated the injured but, before reaching the house, she already died.” A 10-year-old boy who was shot in the leg told Amnesty International how his older brother was shot in the head as they tried to leave the compound. “We went out to try to shelter in a nearby house but we got shot.”
Shot and burned alive
On 13 December, two buildings within Ibrahim Al-Zakzaky’s compound, one of which was being used as a makeshift medical facility and mortuary, were attacked by soldiers. Alyyu, a 22-year-old student, told Amnesty International that he was shot in the chest outside the compound and was taken inside for treatment: “There were lots of injured people in several rooms. There were dead bodies in a room and also in the courtyard. Around 12-1pm soldiers outside called on people to come out, but people were too scared to go out. We knew they would kill us. Soldiers threw grenades inside the compound. I saw one soldier on the wall of the courtyard shooting inside.”
Belay narrates ordeal: “One mother described a phone conversation with one of her 19-year-old sons before he was killed alongside his twin brother and their step brother and sister in the compound. He had said to the mother: “They are shooting those injured one by one,” he told her.
As soldiers set fire to the makeshift medical facility in the compound that afternoon, Yusuf, a 20 year old boy managed to escape despite serious gunshot wounds, he told Amnesty International: “Those who were badly injured and could not escape were burned alive. I managed to get away from the fire by crawling on my knees until I reached a nearby house where I was able to hide until the following day. I don’t know how many of the wounded were burned to death. Tens and tens of them.”
Footage believed to have been shot on mobile phone by IMN supporters after the incident shows bodies with gunshot wounds as well as charred bodies strewn around the compound
