Several killed in Nigeria in new clashes between police and protesters
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Smoke billows over a street of Abuja during clashes between members of the shiite Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) and the police, July 22, 2019. /VCG Photo

Smoke billows over a street of Abuja during clashes between members of the shiite Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) and the police, July 22, 2019. /VCG Photo

Nigerian police and Shi'ite Muslim protesters clashed in the capital Abuja on Monday, with at least one demonstrator, one journalist and a senior policeman killed, highlighting one of the security challenges faced by the country with Africa's biggest economy.

A youth leader who was among the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) protesters said he saw six dead bodies, while a Reuters correspondent in Abuja spotted one corpse, vehicles ablaze and bloodstains along a main street following bursts of gunfire.

Police said a senior officer was killed and three other policemen were injured during the protest, and police had arrested 54 suspects who would be brought to court.

A reporter died after being shot during the rally, international organization the Committee to Protect Journalists Africa tweeted. The local television station, Channels TV, confirmed the tweet.

A spokesman for Islamic Movement in Nigeria said 11 people were killed and at least 30 others injured. He said the police attacked a peaceful march in the capital Abuja, where they were marching to demand for their leader Ibrahim Zakzaky to be freed.

Nigerian police officers patrol in the streets of Abuja during clashes with members of the shiite Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), July 22, 2019. /VCG Photo

Nigerian police officers patrol in the streets of Abuja during clashes with members of the shiite Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), July 22, 2019. /VCG Photo

Ibrahim Musa, president of the Media forum of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, said in a statement that trouble started when the police prevented the group who are on a peaceful protest from accessing their way in Abuja.

The clashes in Abuja's business district, which lasted for about an hour, underscored the security problems in Africa's top oil producer and most populous nation - a country that is central to regional stability.

In recent days, bandits in the northwest killed at least 37 people, Islamist insurgents are suspected to have kidnapped aid workers in the northeast and pirates abducted Turkish sailors in the Gulf of Guinea.

IMN youth leader Abdullahi Muhammed said he saw more than 20 casualties in Abuja on Monday, including people who had been shot in their legs and stomach. "I have seen six corpses," he said, adding that police had taken away many of the bodies.

He said the protest began as a peaceful march but police "started shooting with live ammunition at us".

Clashes between police and Zakzaky's backers have raised fears that IMN might turn to violent insurgency as did Sunni Islamist group Boko Haram after police killed their leader in 2009.

Source(s): Reuters