As families and friends mourn victims of the terrorist attacks on the Kaduna-bound train on Monday night, Nigerians have continued to lament the spate of recent attacks with the question: ‘What is a Nigerian life worth?’
The orgy of attacks in Kaduna State continued, yesterday after terrorists at the weekend attacked an airport and followed it up with Monday’s rail track explosion at Gidan train station along the Abuja-Kaduna rail track.
It was gathered that the terrorists planted Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) on the tracks forcing the train heading to Abuja from Kaduna to a stop. This is the second attack within 24 hours along the same axis.
As of press time, details of the second attack were still sketchy, and it wasn’t yet clear if there were casualties. Innocent Ajiji, president of the Nigeria Union of Railway Workers, confirmed the development to newsmen. He said: “We are yet to determine the extent of the damage.”
The incident comes hours after Monday’s attack, following which the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) had announced the suspension of the Abuja-Kaduna railway operations.
At least eight persons were killed in Monday’s attack, which happened at about 7:45 p.m. at Dutse village in Chikun Local Government Area, a few kilometres from the Rigasa train station, which is the last transit point of the train.
Soldiers were mobilised to confront the terrorists when the mobile policemen escorting passengers on the train were overpowered. They eventually succeeded in dispersing the bandits, who also escaped with some of their hostages.
After calm was restored, the passengers walked about 45 kilometres under security cover to the Abuja-Kaduna highway, and from there, they were conveyed in buses to the 44 Nigerian Army Reference hospital in the Kaduna state capital, where those who sustained injuries were immediately treated.
Also yesterday, bandits attacked the Kaduna-Abuja highway where they kidnapped some travellers. It was learnt that some motorists plying the road were blocked by the bandits and taken to an unknown destination.
An eyewitness said the bandits who were wielding dangerous weapons asked the travellers to come out of their vehicles.
“We saw them when they were taking dozens of travellers inside the forest. But we were helpless as we were not armed. We don’t even have the power to confront them,” he said. At the time of filing this report, the police and the state government were yet to react to the incident.
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