Train attack: Bandits engaged soldiers in two-hour gun duel, whisked many away in vans – witness

One of the witnesses of the attack on a train on Monday night said the bandits and soldiers engaged in a duel that lasted at least two hours.

According to the witness, who did not want to be named, six people, including food vendors, were killed in the attack.

• BREAKING: Abuja-Kaduna train operations suspended after attack
• Terrorists bomb Kaduna-Abuja rail track

Daily Trust cannot independently verify this.

The attackers used explosives to damage the rail track after which the train derailed and they gained access.

Our correspondent gathered that the injured and dead have been taken to 44 Reference Hospital in Kaduna.

The government has directed all general hospitals to treat victims for free, promising to bear the cost.

Bandits came in vans to kidnap passengers

Musa Usman, one of the passengers, said the bandits forced their way into the VIP coach as well as coach 17 where they kill and abducted many passengers.

He said the bandits came in vans, not motorcycles, and those abducted were forced into the vans.

“They continued to shoot and those who didn’t know what was happening at the beginning were hit by stray bullets.”

He, however, said a team of soldiers led by GOC 1 division, Kaduna, moved in around 10pm, forcing the bandits to retreat with the abducted passengers.

“The terrain was very rocky and hilly which made evacuation very difficult,” he said, adding that they had waited for others to be evacuated before they trekked out of the forest to the main road.

“We waited there for military buses which arrived to evacuate us, and we left there around 2am. We did not go to the train station as relatives were already waiting by the Leventist bridge around the central market, we saw many of them disturbed and expectant but the soldiers did not stop there, we proceeded to 44 Reference hospital.”

Another passenger told Daily Trust that from the main road where they entered the military buses to Kaduna was about 45 kilometers.

He said among those shot was a former Deputy Governor of Zamfara State who was shot on both legs.

“We heard many people saying he is a former deputy Governor but I cannot say which of the former deputy governors,” he said.