At least seven people have been killed after gunmen detonated explosives on train tracks and fired at a passenger train in northwest Nigeria. Most of the 970 passengers were evacuated, but search operations continue.
Nigerian officials on Tuesday said at least seven people were killed and others were missing after gunmen attacked a passenger train headed to the northern Nigerian city of Kaduna.
Hundreds of passengers were aboard the train from the capital, Abuja, when suspected bandits blew up rail tracks and exchanged fire with security officials, authorities said.
A security source was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying 970 passengers were aboard the train when the attack occurred at around 9 p.m. local time (2000 UTC) on Monday.
“The attack has been repelled by the troops who deployed in time. The terrorists fled when the soldiers arrived. The train is bulletproof, this saved the passengers who lay still on the floor,” the source told AFP.
Relatives told the Reuters news agency that most of the passengers were taken from the scene of the attack on buses to Kaduna.
However, local media reported that some passengers had been kidnapped. Kaduna-based journalist Yusuf Atta said his mother and sister were on the train and were not accounted for as of Tuesday morning.
Kaduna security services were expected to hold a media briefing media later on Tuesday.
Growing number of attacks attributed to bandits
The incident highlights growing insecurities in Africa’s most populous country, with recent attacks on villages and rural roads, as well as kidnappings.
Criminal gangs, known locally as bandits, have been blamed for rising violence in northwest Nigeria.
Monday’s train attack came just days after heavily armed men attacked the Kaduna airport, killing a security guard and temporarily disrupting flights.
fb/wmr (AFP, dpa, Reuters)