[img align=right width=200]http://af.reuters.com/resources/r/?m=02&d=20090816&t=2&i=11249578&w=192&r=2009-08-16T105016Z_01_AJOE57F0U3V00_RTROPTP_0_OZATP-NIGERIA-SECT-20090816[/img]
Aug 16, 2009
By Joy Simon

MINNA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Police in the western Nigerian state of Niger have raided an Islamic community and detained hundreds of its members, weeks after an uprising by a radical sect killed almost 800 in the remote northeast.

Niger state police commissioner Mike Zuokumor said officers backed by reinforcements from the capital Abuja had surrounded the compound of the Darul Islam community on the edge of the town of Mokwa early on Saturday.

"We received a series of reports about the activities of the sect from neighbouring communities, the local government and the emirate (traditional leader)," Zuokumor said.

"Some of them were expressing apprehension concerning the activities of the group and it is our duty to ensure law and order among the citizens of the state," he said.

Police and immigration officers were screening about 600 members of the sect who had been detained and taken to a nearby school for questioning, police spokesman Richard Oguche said.

Some of them were believed to have crossed into Nigeria to join Darul Islam from Chad, Cameroon and the country of Niger.

Local journalists said as many as 3,000 people were believed to live in the community. Male members dress in white robes while its women are fully covered in black.

Zuokumor said police had received reports that Darul Islam was forcibly holding women to be the wives of sect members. The arrests were peaceful and no shots were fired.

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