Several people have been killed after Nigerian police raided the headquarters of an Islamic sect, whose members exchanged their wives.
| The wives think of it as swapping husbands... |
Members of the Yan-Gwagwarmaya sect battled the police with guns and machetes before being overwhelmed, the police say. Residents of the remote north-western town of Birnin Kebbi complained after they tried to recruit local youths.
| "Want some candy, little youth?" |
| "Hey, keep your hands off our youths!" |
Five policemen, including an assistant commissioner, were seriously injured.
| "They got Officer Friendly! Damn them!" |
| Should have given Officer Fife more than one bullet. |
The group's leader, Sanusi Makera-Gandu was also badly hurt in the clashes.
| "They got Fearless Leader! Damn them!" |
The BBC's Elizabeth Blunt in the capital, Abuja, says this is the latest in a series of such incidents in Nigeria involving Muslim youths who set up their own communities and refused to accept conventional civil or religious authority.
| "Hain't nobuddy tells us what to do!" |
The authorities refuse to say exactly how many people were killed in the raid. The sect had incensed other local Muslim groups by calling their base the Kabah - after Islam's holiest site in the Saudi Arabian town of Mecca.
| "Hey! Youse can't do dat!" |
| "Dey don't even have a big black rock to march around!" |
They walked around the courtyard of their base as Muslims do on the pilgrimage to Mecca.
| Interesting, an African islamic start-up splinter sect, one that doesn't bow down to Mecca. The Saudis will be furious, I like it. |
Casualty figures are extremely sensitive in Nigeria - and are often played down for fear of inflaming tensions. In January, another Islamic sect calling itself the Taleban attacked police stations in north-eastern Nigeria.
| Maybe we can arrange a African Islam vs Arab Islam steel-cage death match. |
| Already have one of those, it's called "Darfur". |
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