Terrorists
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EKO HOT BLOG reports that the armed gang which captured some train passengers in Kaduna on March 28, 2022, have released pictures of the victims.
The pictures were released two weeks after a video of the captives went viral on social media.
In the video, the armed men had threatened to kill the passengers if the federal government did not meet their demands.
Shortly after the footage was made public, relatives of the victims appealed to the Federal Government to do everything possible to ensure the release of their loved ones, but the passengers have been in captivity ever since.In one the released photographs, nearly 20 men were seen in a strange environment while another picture captured at least 18 women with five children
Among them is the 85-year-old woman said to be diabetic.
The second photo shows 17 men, including a foreigner.
The third photo shows six of the victims sitting, one of whom has a bandage wrapped on his right leg.
The fourth photo shows 16 people.
It’s the third time the terrorists have revealed that their hostages are still alive.
The first image was revealed during the release of Alwan Ali-Hassan, the Managing Director of the Bank of Agriculture.
Another video showed victims pleading with the government to comply with the terrorists’ demands.
Following the Abuja-Kaduna Train attack, it was stated that the bandits had 68 captives, including 41 women, 22 men, and five children.
The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) is unsure how many people have been kidnapped.
As the abductees sat on a tarpaulin, the terrorists used clothing to obscure the background of the images.
During the incident, they blew up rail rails on the Abuja-Kaduna route, killing eight people. There were a total of 41 persons injured.
Ali-Hassan, the only released captive so far, informed people who came to see him that they had to journey for five days from the Abuja-Kaduna Train attack location to a jungle in Niger State’s Shiroro Local Government Area.
“He told us that all our loved ones were alright,” a victim’s relative claimed after visiting Ali-Hassan.
“After being transported several kilometers into the woods from the location of the Abuja-Kaduna Train attack, the robbers dropped them and forced them to hike from there,” he claimed.
“He claimed they stopped at many bandits transit camps, and that each time they thought they’d arrived at their destination, they’d be told to start hiking all over again.
They traveled for five days, he added, until arriving at the militants’ main camp in the jungle near Shiroro Local Government Area in Niger State.
“He also told us that the terrorists had medical professionals, which they brought to the camp to treat victims who were injured at the scene of the attack or on the way to the terrorist camp.”
Two expectant mothers among the victims, one of whom was claimed to be due for a caesarean section (CS), were reportedly delivered of their babies, but this could not be reliably confirmed.
Family members confirmed that those seen in the photographs were their relatives.
President Muhammadu Buhari had ordered security agencies to secure the release of all those in captivity
Families write NSA
Families of the victims have written the National Security Adviser (NSA), Major-General Mohammed Munguno (rtd), demanding a status report.
The April 25 letter was signed by Aliyu Mahmood, Idayat Yusuf, Aminu Othman and Dr. Baaba Muhammed on behalf of the victims’ families.
They lamented being left in the dark as to the state of their loved ones.
The letter reads: “We the families of victims of the Nigerian Railway Corporation train attack AK9 departing from Abuja on 28th of March 2022 to Rigasa Kaduna have come together on behalf of the victims that are in captivity.
“We write to express our concern that there is no representation from the government to communicate with us on the status of our loved ones.
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“Even though we know the information may be of confidential nature, families need to be reassured and be carried along in a safe manner to ensure their release from captivity safely.
“We humbly request your facilitation to ensure that the Federal Government is in touch with the victims’ families
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