Details of the casualties of both the dead and wounded have started to emerge from the attack on a passenger train from Abuja to Kaduna s on Monday night, with many feared dead.
Viral images on WhatsApp show some of the victims shot by the terrorists. Some of the passengers were said to have been kidnapped by the gunmen. One of the pictures is that of a young lady who was shot in the stomach area, just above the navel.
A former Deputy Governor of Zamfara State, Alhaji Ibrahim Muhammad, is said to be one of those who were shot in the attack. There is also an unconfirmed report saying that a female doctor simply identified as Chinelo, was one of those killed by the gunmen.
The train was said to be carrying about 970 passengers as of the time fo the attack.
The attack on the train was said to have taken place around Dutse axis in Kaduna, just a few kilometres to the Rigasa Train Station in Igabi Local Government Area of the state, privately owned Channels Television reported.
Although the government has not made any comment on the attack, the Nigerian Army has issued a statement on the incident.
The statement quoted the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Faruk Yahaya, as having ordered troops to go after the bandits while also searching for the victims.
Gen Yahaya gave the order during a visit to the scene of the attack on Tuesday, according to the statement issued by the Director of Army Public Relations, Brigadier-General, Onyeama Nwachukwu. The statement was titled ‘COAS on an assessment visit to the scene of Kaduna-Abuja train attack’.
The statement said: “The COAS, who was accompanied by some principal staff officers of the Army Headquarters and the General Officer Commanding 1 Division, on arrival at scene, assessed the security situation around the general area of the attack and inspected the attacked train, as well as the rail track to evaluate the degree of damage.
“He ordered the troops of the NA and other security agencies to intensify their search and rescue operations to ensure that the kidnapped victims are rescued unconditionally.
“The COAS has also assured Nigerians that the troops will be undeterred and vehement in the fight against banditry and other forms of criminality.
“He urged members of the surrounding communities and all Nigerians to continue to avail troops with credible information to enhance their operations across the country.
“Gen Yahaya observed that the attack reverberates the need for critical stakeholders to review the security of railways across the country in order to achieve the desired security architecture for railway transportation.”
Similarly, Samuel Aruwan, the Commissioner of Internal Security and Home Affairs in Kaduna State, has also confirmed the attack on behalf of the State Government. He said that those who were injured in the attack as well as other casualties had been taken to hospitals.
Channels Television on Monday night had quoted one of the passengers on the train as saying that the bandits bombed the train with an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) which forced the train to derail.
After the train was forced to stop, attackers subsequently began to fire gunshots sporadically, the passenger told the TV station.
It was then that the bandits were said to have forced their way into the train and kidnapped an unspecified number of people, with some others feared killed, the passenger said, according to Channels.
Channels also quoted another passenger, identified as Anas Danmusa, who went to his Facebook handle to cry for help.
At the time he wrote, he said that nobody could come to their rescue about one hour into the incident as the assailants tried to force their way into the train.
However, about 20 minutes later, Danmusa reported that troops had been mobilized to the scene of the attack to secure the trapped passengers.
Security authorities are yet to confirm the incident officially, but this is coming barely two days after bandits invaded the Kaduna International Airport and prevented an aircraft from taking off for a flight to Lagos.
The bandits in the Saturday attack, said to number up to 200, had invaded the Kaduna International Airport on Saturday, where they shot dead a security officer of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA).
According to reports, the bandits overran the runway and prevented a Lagos-bound AZMAN aircraft from taking off at about 12:30 pm.
The terrorists were said to have insisted on getting the airport shut down. This forced the airport Authorities to temporarily shut down activities while the military battled the suspected terrorists.
The Saturday attack came on the day the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress was holdings its convention in Abuja at which it selected its National Working Committee members to run its affairs for the next four years.
