@Conor Gaffey
ON OCTOBER 12, Shiite Muslims marked Ashura, the holiest day of the Shiite calendar, when devotees mourn the death of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson. But for Nigerian Shiites, the mourning was not just symbolic: Security forces and angry Sunni mobs disrupted processions across northern Nigeria, killing at least 11 people. The country’s biggest Shiite organization, the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), claims government-backed thugs also destroyed Shiite homes and businesses. The central government has not commented, but the state government in northern Nigeria where the attacks took place has blamed “mobs.”
WORDS ON THE STREET: A man in the northern Nigerian city of Kano pushes a cart full of water bottles in front of graffiti protesting the military’s killing of members of a Shiite group.
SUNDAY ALAMBA/AP