AFRICA/NIGERIA - The remaining 23 hostages of the Abuja-Kaduna train attack released after more than 6 months

Friday, 7 October 2022 kidnappings  

Abuja (Agenzia Fides) - The remaining 23 people who were still held by the terrorists who attacked the Abuja-Kaduna train on March 28 have been released (see Fides, 30/3/2022). This was stated by Nigerian authorities, according to which the hostages were released on October 5, thanks to an unspecified "military operation". A spokesperson for the families of the victims of the train attack said they had not paid any ransom for the release of their loved ones.
According to the local press, nine passengers were killed in the attack on the Abuja-Kaduna train while at least 168 people were reported missing. Of them, 63 were officially declared kidnapped by the attackers.
Prior to the release of the remaining 23 hostages, some forty hostages were released in groups, some after the payment of a ransom amounting to hundreds of millions of Naira.
However, the intermediary who helped the families of the victims to negotiate with the terrorists, Tukur Mamu, was arrested in early September in Egypt on his way to Saudi Arabia to carry out a minor Hajj, on a mandate from the Nigerian authorities. Extradited to Nigeria, he is being held by the Department of State Services (DSS) on charges of collusion with "local and international terrorists".
The scourge of kidnapping has become a true "crime industry" of which several Nigerian priests and religious are also victims. Activity carried out by purely criminal groups and others for terrorist purposes, which affects both the northern, central and southern regions of the Federation.
An activity that never stops, as evidenced by the kidnapping yesterday, October 6, of 20 inhabitants in the villages of Danzamau and Dargaje in the north-western state of Zamfara.
The two simultaneous assaults took place around 6 am, in the two villages in the local government area of Bukuyum, as the villagers were preparing to perform morning prayers. The attack lasted several hours without the security forces intervening. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides, 7/10/2022)


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