Eight people died in an armed ambush on a train in the north of Nigeria and a further 26 were injured, the commissioner for the Kaduna State Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, said late on Tuesday.
According to the local newspaper \”Leadership,\” 30 people were kidnapped, including the director of the Bank of Agriculture Nigeria, Kabir Adamu.
Heavily armed attackers ambushed a train with hundreds of passengers on Monday, destroying the tracks with explosives and then shooting at the train when it stopped.
The train had been en route from the capital of Abuja to the north-western city of Kaduna. Train services were temporarily halted on the route.
UN General Secretary Antonio Guterres criticized the attack, as well as another on the airport of Kaduna that took place just before.
He offered his condolences to the relatives of the victims, demanded the release of the kidnapped individuals and urged that the perpetrators be brought to justice.
So far the attack has not been claimed by any group or organization. Raids and kidnappings are not uncommon in the villages and country roads of Africa\’s most populous country, with 200 million inhabitants.
These crimes are sometimes perpetrated by Islamist terrorist organizations such as Boko Haram, sometimes by criminal gangs.
Source: GNA