Some persons believed to be terrorists operating in Kaduna state have opted for a new strategy in their activities by attacking the Abuja-Kaduna train, being used by many commuters to avoid the dangerous highway.
A former lawmaker from the state, Senator Shehu Sani reported the double attacks Wednesday and Thursday on Facebook:
“Yesternight (Wednesday), bandits attacked the Kaduna-Abuja train.
“They planted an explosive that damaged the rail track and shattered the windshield of the train engine. They also opened fire, targeting the Driver and the Tank.
“It happened between Dutse and Rijana stations. The Driver struggled to move towards Kaduna Rigasa station.
“This early morning, I was on board when our train ran over another explosive damaged railings. The train nearly skidded off its track, then we miraculously escaped.
“All Kaduna Abuja train operations need to be suspended for today until this issue is addressed,” Sani wrote.
Train passengers stranded in Kaduna over alleged rail track bombing
The alleged bombing, it was further gathered, inflicted technical damage on the train that departed Kaduna for Abuja Thursday morning hence the unavailability of the train to take passengers back to Abuja.
According to sources, the attempted bombing was nipped Wednesday night by security forces, a situation that made the express train that departed Abuja 6:40pm on Wednesday to arrive Kaduna around 2:00am on Thursday.
The Wednesday evening train was expected to arrive Kaduna 8:40pm, but because it took the security operatives several hours to clear the rail track of danger, the train spent over eight hours on the usual two-hour journey.
This incident is coming few weeks after an allegedly leaked memo on report of Boko Haram and ISWAP terrorists fleeing from Sambisa Forest to Rijana Forest in Chikun local government area of Kaduna state.
A top security source said that the security agencies in the state had since Tuesday been struggling to prevent attack on the train by terrorists suspected to be members of the ISWAP and Boko Haram groups.
According to the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, “ISWAP and Boko Haram members have entered Kaduna, but the security agencies have been struggling to prevent them from setting up their camp in any part of the state. Tuesday till Wednesday morning, we could not sleep because we were struggling to dislodge the terrorists who were trying to bomb a bridge used by the Kaduna-Abuja train”.
When Blueprint visited the Rigasa Train Station, it was observed that sale of tickets had been stopped, while hordes of passengers were seen in various states of dejection wondering their next line of action.
Passengers who came to the train station Thursday morning to board the 10:35am train to Abuja were stranded as the 7:00am train that was supposed to arrive Kaduna by 9:00am and return passengers to Abuja by 10:35am, could not make it to Kaduna.
Many of the passengers were seen returning home with their luggage, while those who felt the trip to Abuja is too urgent to be postponed or shelved decide to go by road.
One of the passengers who resides in Kaduna, Aisha Usman, explained why she chose to travel by road to Abuja. “Since all these happened, and I can’t postpone my journey, I had no choice than to go by road. May God protect us all from evil.”
When Kaduna state Police Command was contacted to confirm if anyone had been arrested in connection with the incident, the command’s public relations officer, ASP Mohammad Jalige said, “I will get back to you.”
Also, when the Commissioner of Police, Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) Command, Oyediran Oyeyemi was contacted on his phone, he told Blueprint that he just alighted from airplane and there was noise. “I can’t hear you; I just came down from a plane.”
But when a call was put through to the CP Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) Command again, he failed to pick his call.