SOKOTO, Nigeria, July 30 (Reuters) - Nigerian police charged 112 Shi'ite Muslims for counts including disturbing the peace and resisting arrest on Monday following the killing of an influential Sunni cleric in the far northwestern city of Sokoto.

Umaru Danshiya, well-known in Sokoto for his sermons against Shi'ites, was shot in a mosque on July 18 and died the following day. A man was lynched shortly after the shooting and Sunni mobs tried to attack a Shi'ite residential compound.

The Shi'ites are facing four charges: disturbing public peace, possession of dangerous weapons, unlawful assembly and resisting arrest. They all pleaded not guilty.

The magistrate remanded them in prison custody and adjourned the case to August 9. Police are still investigating.

The authorities deployed troops and riot police across the deeply religious city to stop the spread of violence after Sunni men armed with machetes and sticks tried to attack the Shi'ite compound to avenge the killing.

The city on the fringes of the Sahara desert is the seat of the sultan of Sokoto, spiritual leader of Nigeria's estimated 70 million Muslims.

The Shi'ite community is a relatively recent arrival in a city dominated by Sunni Islam for centuries. Tensions have broken out into sporadic fighting, although the situation had been calm for about two years before the latest shooting.

Nigeria, Africa's most populous country with 140 million people, is divided roughly equally between Muslims and Christians.

Sectarian fighting between Muslims and Christians has killed thousands of people in the past eight years but clashes between Muslims are unusual.

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