Nigeria - violence

Police clash with Islamist sect, 38 dead

Article published on the 2009-12-29 Latest update 2009-12-29 13:49 TU

Some 38 people died on Monday after a Nigerian joint military-police force clashed with an Islamist sect in Bauchi, in the north of the country. A soldier and two neighbours not connected to the sect were amng the dead. Police report that Malam Badamasi, the leader of the sect, was killed.

"We made 20 arrests, including nine adults and 11 juveniles, while 14 were injured," said Bauchi State police chief Atikur Kafur.

Reports indicate that the Kala-Kato sect began a loud session of preaching against Western education and the government on Monday night. The police were called in, resulting in the deaths and 20 arrests, including nine adults and 11 children, Kafur said.

Bomb-making tools and explosives, two AK47 rifles with several rounds of ammunition were recovered from the leader's home, according to the police, along with a number of swords, daggers and gun powder.

Kala-Kato, also known as Maitatsine, is a radical Islamist sect which has been based in northern Nigeria for decades.

Its followers believe only in a strict interpretation of the Koran, according to correspondent Ibrahaim Yaya, reporting from Bauchi.

"They don't believe in anything ... brought by modern technology," says Yaya.

The group is quite small and only comprised of the inhabitants of two houses in the Zango area of Bauchi, says Yaya.

In July at least 800 people were killed when security forces crushed an uprising in Bauchi, Kano, Yobe and Borno states in northern Nigeria by members of the Boko Haram Muslim sect.