Lilith
08-06-2004, 09:39 AM
(submitted by gekkogecko)
Reuters to My Yahoo!
LAGOS (Reuters) - Two policemen were shot and two more
stabbed during a raid on an Islamic sect engaged in
wife-swapping in the northern Nigerian state of Kebbi,
authorities said on Thursday.
Sect members armed with guns, daggers and bows and
arrows attacked police and government workers who were
sent to destroy the group's base in the state capital
Birnin-Kebbi.
The raid on Wednesday morning sparked an intense
hour-long battle, police said.
"They were debasing the morality of our community and
the teachings of Islam by prostituting their wives in
such a way," said Kebbi State police spokesman Ibrahim
Sa'ad Muhammed.
"They attacked the workers, and the police called in
reinforcements. An hour-long battle commenced, two of
our men were shot and two stabbed. Some of the members
of the sect were also injured in the fight," he added.
Police said the Shi'ite sect had refused offers of
dialogue and orders from the state government to
vacate its premises after residents complained the
sect was an insult to Islam.
The group had called their base the Ka'bah, named
after the holiest shrine in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the
birthplace of Islam.
Police arrested about 20 sect members and sent patrols
to hunt down hundreds of others who escaped, said
Muhammed.
Kebbi is one of 12 northern Nigerian states to have
declared Muslim sharia Islamic law in 2000.
Reuters to My Yahoo!
LAGOS (Reuters) - Two policemen were shot and two more
stabbed during a raid on an Islamic sect engaged in
wife-swapping in the northern Nigerian state of Kebbi,
authorities said on Thursday.
Sect members armed with guns, daggers and bows and
arrows attacked police and government workers who were
sent to destroy the group's base in the state capital
Birnin-Kebbi.
The raid on Wednesday morning sparked an intense
hour-long battle, police said.
"They were debasing the morality of our community and
the teachings of Islam by prostituting their wives in
such a way," said Kebbi State police spokesman Ibrahim
Sa'ad Muhammed.
"They attacked the workers, and the police called in
reinforcements. An hour-long battle commenced, two of
our men were shot and two stabbed. Some of the members
of the sect were also injured in the fight," he added.
Police said the Shi'ite sect had refused offers of
dialogue and orders from the state government to
vacate its premises after residents complained the
sect was an insult to Islam.
The group had called their base the Ka'bah, named
after the holiest shrine in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the
birthplace of Islam.
Police arrested about 20 sect members and sent patrols
to hunt down hundreds of others who escaped, said
Muhammed.
Kebbi is one of 12 northern Nigerian states to have
declared Muslim sharia Islamic law in 2000.