The number of dead in Friday’s suicide bomb attack on Shiite Muslims by the Boko Haram sect has increased.
The Shiite Muslims, under Sheikh Ibrahim El Zakzaky, were undertaking the Arba’een symbolic trek from Kano State to Hussainiyyah Baqiyyatullah, Zaria, Kaduna State when a suicide bomber detonated an Improvised Explosive Device in their midst.
Twenty-one persons were confirmed dead immediately.
However, three more have died among the over 60 injured and taken to the hospital.
According to the Media Team Leader of this year’s Arba’een symbolic trek, Ibrahim Usman, on Monday, two more persons died between Sunday and Monday.
Usman explained that one day after the attack, one more person died in a hospital bed.
Usman said Nigerian Shiite Muslims under the leadership of Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky were on this year’s Arba’een symbolic trek from different parts of the country to Hussainiyyah Baqiyyatullah, Zaria, Kaduna State to commemorate the 40th day of Ashura, as a mark of mourning for the killing of Imam Husain, the grandson of the Prophet of Islam by the army of Yazid, son of Mu’awiyyah in 61 AH.
He said the trekkers will finally converge at Hussainiyyah Baqiyyatullah in Zaria on December 3 for the grand Arba’een lecture by the leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky.
Which will coincide with the world’s most populous gathering at the tomb of Imam Husain (AS) in Karbala, Iraq in which over 40 million pilgrims participated last year.
In a related development the Arbaeen Symbolic Trek kicked up from Kaduna axis heading to Zaria for Arba’een.
Some Pastors from different church denominations from Kaduna State will join the trek.
They will be led by Pastor Yohanna Buru of the Evangelical Church and head of the Peace Revival and Reconciliation organization, an NGO.
Pastor Buru told the newsmen in Kaduna: “Why should I not trek in solidarity with the cause of Imam Husain, when is a struggle for justice and I as a Christian proclaim to champion the cause for justice, unity and religious tolerance?
“I should be hypocritical if don’t do that.
“We also want to experience the suffering of the handful of the Ahlul Bayt after the killing of Imam Husain in Karbala.”