By Rabi'atu Muhammad
We were inside the Hussainiyya complex when a whistle was blown twice. We had never heard such a whistle. When we walked out, we saw truckloads of soldiers.
When the whistle was blown again, the soldiers came down their trucks. I went back to inform Muslim brothers inside that it was soldiers, who were blowing the whistle, and they were armed and the trucks that brought them had turned back.
Some of the brothers met and asked them why they were deployed. They said they were looking for their lost military helmet.
Some Muslim brothers begged them to turn back since they could not trace it. They backtracked saying there was to be a passing out parade that was why they were dispatched to the area.
The brothers argued with them that the vicinity of Husainiyya is not even close to the army barrack and they have never deployed soldiers whenever the passing out parade is being held. They then pleaded with them to go back.
They retreated to a railway junction
and they escorted them to the polo pitch before they came over again. Some of the brothers met them once more. They immediately took positions and started shooting. They were shooting sporadically at us and we were chanting Labbayk Ya Rasulillah! Labbayk Ya Ali!
That was how they started shooting on Saturday around 12:30 p.m. up to Sunday. After destroying Hussainiyya with bombs, the soldiers entered, shooting at whoever was lying down whether he was dead or alive; whether it was a child, male or
female. We, on the other hand, entered a building adjacent to Hussainiyya, however a soldier broke into the building and started shooting. I was already shot at and I was writhing in pain. He was about to shoot me again when one of the soldiers asked him to leave me alone.
I heard the soldier saying Shia is not Islam, it is apostasy, and that they were getting rewarded for killing Shias. He swore that
Allah will reward them for their actions.
Little children were taking refuge inside a room that was close to the main door of the house when a soldier broke open the door and no sooner had he entered he
started shooting at the children. Indeed to Allah we belong and to Allah we shall return! (Crying). These children were killed with gunfire!They then evacuated us to the barrack, and tortured us. They forced us to lie flat on a tarred road, taunting us that “Shia is not a religion. It is a deviation!” They claimed even though they were killing us they were getting reward from Allah for their actions. They confiscated our belongings and stripped us of our
hijabs; they blindfolded us; they robbed us of everything and gleefully snapping us with their mobile phones without hijab.
They did not allow us to sleep that night. They kept torturing us before they crammed us in a truck in the morning. They teargased us inside the truck which caused us to repeatedly cough throughout the journey to Kaduna.
The severely wounded among us were left to writhe in pain without medical attention. I could not even stand on my feet. Some women were pregnant and had gunshot wounds. After several days of detention in Kaduna, we were released.”
From the Book " Zaria Massacre Survivors Account ".
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