The last 23 hostages who were taken by gunmen during a large-scale attack on a train in northwestern Nigeria at the end of March have finally been freed, Nigerian authorities announced Wednesday.
Nigeria, which is preparing to elect a new president next year, is experiencing series of insecurity. Criminal groups are attacking villages almost everyday, stealing cattle and kidnapping local officials on the roads or travelers for ransom in the northwest and central parts of the country.
On the 28th of March this year, 8 people were killed and dozens abducted when attackers detonated a bomb on a railway track and opened fire on the train from Abuja to Kaduna.
6 months later, the authorities announced that they had secured the release of the “last 23 passengers” still being held hostage, in a statement signed by the head of the Defence Staff Action Committee, Usman Yusuf.
Contacted by AFP, the head of security in Kaduna State Samuel Aruwan confirmed the release of the hostages.
The attack on the train that was previously believed to be safe, shocked Nigerians who were not expecting something of that sort.
No jihadist group has come forward to claim responsibility for the attack as of yet.
The criminal gangs in the northwest are motivated primarily by financial gain rather than any sort of ideological agenda. However, recent alliances between these gangs and jihadist groups are raising many concerns.
Several security sources believe that fighters from the jihadist group Ansaru, affiliated with al-Qaeda, cooperated with criminal gangs in the train attack.
Ansaru, which broke away from Boko Haram in 2012, is the only jihadist group that has been present in the northwest for a number of years.