Nigeria's restive north

Nigeria's restive north

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Piles of rubble are all that remain of the residence of Nigeria's most prominent Shi'ite Muslim leader after it was demolished by bulldozers in the northern city of Zaria.

Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky's compound was levelled after three days of clashes between the army and Shi'ite residents of the city in December in which rights groups say hundreds of Shi'ites were killed.

. Zaria, NIGERIA. Reuters/Afolabi Sotunde

The army declined to give a Shi'ite death toll but said one soldier was killed and five were wounded.

The violence and its repercussions could further fracture a country battling a northern insurgency by hardline Sunni group Boko Haram, a secessionist movement in the southeast, militancy in the oil-rich Delta, as well as a growing economic crisis.

The clashes were the deadliest in living memory involving security forces and the minority Shi'ite community, say some Shi'ites and rights groups. A partly demolished Islamic school block is seen here.

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A Shi'ite woman enters a classroom at an Islamic school.
. Zaria, NIGERIA. Reuters/Afolabi Sotunde

A Shi'ite woman enters a classroom at an Islamic school.

A Shi'ite baby girl, whose family claim her father was killed during clashes between Shi'ites and the army, looks into the light at a Shi'ite Islamic school.
. Zaria, NIGERIA. Reuters/Afolabi Sotunde

A Shi'ite baby girl, whose family claim her father was killed during clashes between Shi'ites and the army, looks into the light at a Shi'ite Islamic school.

A girl peers out of a doorway at an Islamic school.
. Zaria, NIGERIA. Reuters/Afolabi Sotunde

A girl peers out of a doorway at an Islamic school.

Two girls chat to each other while standing near the railway line.
. Zaria, NIGERIA. Reuters/Afolabi Sotunde

Two girls chat to each other while standing near the railway line.

Two girls dressed in hijabs walk near a house along the railway line.
. Zaria, NIGERIA. Reuters/Afolabi Sotunde

Two girls dressed in hijabs walk near a house along the railway line.

"We feel dehumanised and betrayed by the Nigerian government," said Muhammadu Samaru, a Shi'ite religious leader, sitting in his Zaria home.

"There can never be any trust and any cordial relations between us and the soldiers unless they change their ways. This is not the first time they are killing us."

. Zaria, NIGERIA. Reuters/Afolabi Sotunde
A boy looks through a broken window of an Islamic school.

Diplomats said the violence risked spawning a radical Shi'ite militant wing - much like the Boko Haram uprising began in 2009 after security forces killed hundreds of its members and its leader Mohammed Yusuf died in custody.

Boko Haram, which has pledged allegiance to Islamic State, has killed thousands of people and driven more than 2 million from their homes in Nigeria's poor north.

. Zaria, NIGERIA. Reuters/Afolabi Sotunde
Graffiti reads "Gyallesu (district) says no to Zakzaky”.

After the Zaria clashes, the army detained a wounded Zakzaky. Sensing the explosive situation, the government flew him abroad for a few days for medical treatment to avoid creating a martyr like Yusuf, according to diplomats. He remains in custody.

"Whether tensions escalate or not will depend on the government's response," said one Western diplomat. "There are parallels with the start of the Boko Haram insurgency when their leader died in custody so the government needs to make sure it investigates the violence with impartiality."

. Zaria, NIGERIA. Reuters/Afolabi Sotunde

Africa's most populous nation, led by President Muhammadu Buhari, is home to around 180 million - roughly evenly split between Christians, mainly in the south, and Muslims, mostly in the north and predominantly Sunni. Shi'ites are estimated to number under 4 million, according to a 2009 report by the U.S.-based Pew Research Center, but there are no official figures.

Zaria, 270 km north of the capital Abuja, is a predominantly Sunni city with a population of about 500,000. It is a focus for inter-community tensions because it is also the spiritual centre of Shi'ite sect the Islamic Movement in Nigeria as home to its leader Zakzaky.

. Zaria, NIGERIA. Reuters/Afolabi Sotunde
Posters of Islamic leaders are seen above the doorway of a house.

Human Rights Watch estimates there are around 3 million members of the sect, a religious and political movement inspired by Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, which would represent most Shi'ites in the West African country.

. Zaria, NIGERIA. Reuters/Afolabi Sotunde
A man poses for a photograph as he scrolls through pictures that he claims are images of Shi'ites injured or killed in clashes with the army.

What provoked the December violence is disputed.

The army said members of the Shi'ite movement had blocked the convoy of its chief of staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, as it travelled through Zaria on 12 December, and tried to assassinate him. It said a shootout and street battles ensued and that it was forced to call in reinforcements.

. Zaria, NIGERIA. Reuters/Afolabi Sotunde
Rubble is all that remains at the site of a demolished Shi'ite mosque.

Army officers showed Reuters pictures of guns, machetes, petrol bombs and swords with which they said sect members had attacked soldiers.

"With the Shia (Shi'ite) group ... we always have problems with those violent extremists among them, who should be brought to justice and caged," said Major General Adeniyi Oyebade, who led the army operation. "There are many moderate Shia. In the military there are Shia officers and soldiers."

. Zaria, NIGERIA. Reuters/Afolabi Sotunde

But members of the sect, which says it is a peaceful movement, and some rights groups say the army launched an unjustified attack, with the motive unclear, and opened fire on civilians. Some Shi'ites showed Reuters videos on their phones of the dead and wounded.

The sect says more than 1,000 Shi'ites could have been killed - it says the army had taken more than 400 bodies to several morgues and that 750 other people were missing.

. Zaria, NIGERIA. Reuters/Afolabi Sotunde
Shi'ite men talk while sitting under posters of their Islamic leaders.

"I saw soldiers pour fuel on bodies of our brothers and set it on fire, then later they removed the bones," said 19-year old Shi'ite Aliyu Tahir, who said he was shot in the leg near the sheikh's house but managed to escape.

Zaria residents say bulldozers demolished Zakzaky's residence, a Shi'ite shrine, a prayer hall, clinic, cemetery and offices in the day and weeks that followed. A Reuters reporter saw the ruins of several sites during a recent visit.

. Zaria, NIGERIA. Reuters/Afolabi Sotunde

The army declined to comment on the demolition of Shi'ite sites.

Buhari - himself a Sunni - has launched an investigation into the violence and its cause, and the destruction of the Shi'ite sites. It is unclear whether the bulldozers that entered Zaria were sent by the government or military.

The president said civilian deaths could not be justified, but also accused the Shi'ites of creating "a state within a state", though he and his government have largely declined to comment until the inquiry reports its findings, which is likely to take several weeks.

Human Rights Watch said tensions could swiftly escalate if there was any perception of bias in the inquiry, which ministers said would be conducted by an independent commission of experts.

"If no one is held accountable for this excessive military action, the risks of radicalising some of those who lost relatives are high," said Mausi Segun, Nigeria researcher at the rights group. "This is a lesson Nigeria ought to have learnt from the killing of Muhammed Yusuf, Boko Haram's founder."

(Text editing by Brian McGee)