The Islamic Movement of Nigeria IMN, also Known as Shiites, earlier on Friday allegedly reported that four of their members were killed by the Nigerian police in Kaduna.
But the police have later, in response to the allegation made by the Shiites group, requested that they produce corpses of their allegedly killed four members, show them their bodies or the hospital where they were taken.
However, speaking in a statement, the spokesperson of the Kaduna State police command, Mansir Hassan said no one was killed, noting that no live ammunition was used to disperse the protesters.
He also refuted the claim of the death of the four members of the Shiites group, noting that no gun was to disperse the group except teargas.
“If they claimed four of their members were killed, where are the bodies and which hospital were they taken to?” he said.
“How can we identify them? Our men did not use live ammunition but only used teargas to disperse them.
Mr Hassan added that three police officials were currently receiving medical treatment, who were wounded during the encounter between the police and the Shiites group.
“We got the information that the members of the proscribed IMN are going to hold a massive protest in the state and the command deployed its men to most of the strategic places to stop them from blocking the road, especially, Ahmadu Bello Way, Kaduna,” Hassan said.
“On sighting our men, the IMN members started throwing stones, catapults, and locally made guns against our men, which led to three of our men sustaining injuries and are now receiving treatment at a police clinic.”
Meanwhile, speaking with Newsmen in a recent report after the protest on Friday, one of the heads of IMN, Aliyu Tirmiziy said 20 members were also injured.
Tirmiziy provided the details that they were merely protesting to show support for the people of Palestine in the Gaza strip before the police arrived shooting and throwing teargas to disperse them.
“We usually come out on the last Friday of every Ramadan to protest peacefully and show our support to the people of Palestine for the inhuman treatment they are being forced to face as is being done by others across the globe,” he said.
“We usually have a peaceful procession but this time around, as we were about to start, the police came and threw tear gas at us and started shooting and in the process, four of our members were killed while 20 were injured.”
However, a recent report said the incident sent a shockwave among residents of Kaduna, especially those trading along the Ahmadu Bello Way, who quickly left their businesses to rust to safety.
