By Rafiu Ajakaye
LAGOS
At least 21 people were reportedly killed and 60 others wounded on Monday when a suspected suicide bomber attacked a crowd of Shiites gathered for the yearly Ashura procession at a school in Potiskum town in the northeastern Yobe State.
"At least 21 people died while 60 others are critically injured," Mallam Mustapha Potiskum, a local official with the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, a Shiite umbrella group that runs the Fudya Islamic Primary and Secondary School, told Anadolu Agency by phone.
"The explosion occurred just shortly after we finished the Ashura procession and we were gathered in the school," he said.
Shiite Muslims hold mourning processions on the 10th of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar, to mark the martyrdom of Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Imam Hussein, who was killed in a battle in the Iraqi city of Karbala in 680 AD.
The day is commonly known as Ashura.
Potiskum said that, while people were scampering for safety, a vehicle belonging to the Nigerian Army had arrived.
"They shot into the crowd and whisked away a man from within the crowd," he claimed. "Then, minutes later, soldiers arrived with an armored vehicle and they started shooting on sight."
"From the explosion and this shooting, a total of 21 people died, while 60 were critically injured," Potiskum said.
David Kudu, a resident of the area, confirmed the attack.
"No less than 20 people have been killed, especially when the explosion first occurred," he told AA.
"Then the soldiers' shootout compounded the problem," added Kudu.
"Everywhere is charged now, although the Shiite leaders here have urged everyone to calm down," he said.
Nigerian Army spokesman Olajide Laleye has yet to respond to AA's requests for comment on the allegations.
In August, the Shiite group said at least 35 of its members were shot dead by soldiers in the northwestern town of Zaria in Kaduna State.
Investigation into the incident has not yet been concluded.
Ibrahim E-Zakzaky, a Shiite leader whose three sons were among those killed in August, recently accused the army of planning further assaults on Nigeria's Shiite community.
The army, for its part, denied the claim.
www.aa.com.tr/en
