நைஜீரியா - ஷியா சுன்னி கலவரத்தில் வீடுகள் எரிக்கப்பட்டன

சுன்னி இமாம் கொல்லப்பட்டதின் காரணமாக நைஜீரியாவின் சுன்னி மக்கள் கொந்தளித்துள்ளனர். அவர்கள் ஷியாக்களின் வீடுகளை கொளுத்தியிருக்கின்றார்கள்.

நூற்றுக்கணக்கானவர்கள் ஷியா பகுதிக்குள் நுழைந்து அங்குள்ள வீடுகளுக்கு தீ வைத்துள்ளனர்.


Mobs torch houses in Nigeria's main Islamic city

Mobs burned down houses in Shiite neighbourhoods of Nigeria's main Islamic city on Friday in apparent reprisal for the murder this week of a radical Sunni Muslim cleric, witnesses said.

Hundreds of people stormed through Shiite neighbourhoods of the city "and started burning down the houses in anger," a witness told AFP by phone on condition of anonymity.

Abubakar Mohammed, spokesman for the Shiite community in Sokoto, said around 20 houses belonging to members of his community were razed.

Mohammed said the local Shiite leader, Kassimu Umar, and 20 of his followers had been detained by police in connection with the killing.

The truck transporting them to the police station had been attacked by a stone-throwing mob, Mohammed added.

A Sokoto police spokesman, Mohammed Umar-Dasingalri, appealed for calm in the city which is the seat of the Sultan of Sokoto, spiritual head of Nigeria's estimated 70 million Muslims, who are mostly Sunni.

Sunni's have blamed Shiites for the murder, raising fears of clashes.

Prominent Sunni cleric, Umar Dan-Maishiya, was shot at about 9:15 pm (2015 GMT) on Wednesday shortly after speaking at the city's central mosque.

He was buried on Thursday at the tomb of Usman Dan Fodio, the founder of the Sokoto Caliphate in Nigeria.

Sokoto, headquarters of Islam in Nigeria, two years ago witnessed bloody clashes between the Sunni and Shiite sects over the right to worship at the central mosque.

The murdered cleric was said to have spearheaded the attack against the Shiites during the 2005 clashes. He was arrested and released just two months ago.

Northern Nigeria is majority Muslim, although large Christian minorities have settled in the main towns. Since 1999 and the return of a civilian regime, 12 northern states have introduced Islamic Sharia law.

The region has a long history of religious clashes which mostly start after the traditional Friday Jumat worship.