EKO HOT BLOG reports that President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday vowed to rescue 31 hostages taken in a train attack and return them “safe and unhurt”, his office said, five months after their abduction.
On March 28, armed men blew up a train travelling between Abuja and Kaduna and opened fire, killing eight people, wounding 26, and taking an unspecified number of passengers hostage.
Dozens of hostages have already been freed following negotiations, but 31 remain in captivity.
“I have been informed that at last count, there remain about 31 people in the hands of the kidnappers,” Buhari told representatives of the families of the hostages in Abuja on Thursday.
He said his government would ensure the safe return of the remaining hostages to their families.
“My primary concern is to get everyone released safe and unhurt,” he assured.
The president commended the security forces on recent successes against kidnappers and “terrorists”.
“In the past couple of days, you must have heard about the number of terrorists neutralised by the military, and a number of hostages freed. These efforts will not stop, or reduce,” he said.
“We must take the fight to the terrorists and demonstrate that there is no hiding place for them within the borders of our country,” he said.
“Each one of them will be hunted, and pursued and spoken to in the language that they understand,” he added.
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