India, Sept. 19 -- Nigerian police fired tear gas on Friday to disperse crowds protesting the deaths of 37 miners who were being held in custody.

The civil defence corps said the miners, who were arrested earlier this week on suspicion of illegal mining, died following a suspected disease outbreak. Survivors, however, told The Associated Press that the deaths were caused by suffocation.

Protesters alleged that the miners were killed in retaliation for earlier attacks by some miners on security officers. The government on Friday suspended the commandant of the Niger State civil defence corps.

"It is an unfortunate incident," Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo said in a statement. He added that a full investigation would be conducted a...