By our reporter| A former Deputy Governor of Zamfara State, Ibrahim Wakkala, a pregnant woman and her baby were among the victims of Monday night’s bandits’ attack that derailed a Kaduna bound train from Abuja, the nation’s capital.
Wakkala sustained gunshot wounds in Monday’s terrorist attack while the pregnant woman was reportedly taken away with her baby.
The train conveying hundreds of passengers from Abuja to Kaduna was attacked by gunmen suspected to be bandits between Katari and Rijana in Kaduna State.
According to an aide to the former deputy governor, he was returning from the APC National Convention which held on Saturday, and was shot during the crossfire between the terrorists and the military.
Wakkala is currently receiving treatment at a military hospital in Kaduna.
The spokesperson of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Zamfara State, Yusuf Idris who equally confirmed the incident,
said the former Deputy Governor was initially abducted by the terrorists during the attack and was successfully rescued by the combined forces of DSS and Military.
“He was initially abducted but was rescued by the DSS and military, it was during the process he sustain gunshot injury in the leg.”
“He is very okay now, he is receiving treatment at the hospital in Kaduna state,” Idris added.
However, many are feared killed and several others were abducted during the attack.
The police and the Kaduna state government are yet to confirm the number of casualties in the attack.
The bandits were said to have opened fire, shooting sporadically on the train, and later gained access to the train.
According to sources, mobile policemen attached to the train engaged the bandits in a gun duel but were tactical in their shooting so as not to exhaust their ammunitions considering how prepared the bandits were.
However, many especially those in the first and second coaches were said to have been taken away by the bandits including a pregnant woman and her baby, while about six persons were reportedly killed.
A passenger on the train told Channels Television that some people died while an unspecified number of passengers were taken away by the bandits.
Giving an account of the incident, the source said that the bandits planted Improvised Explosive devices along the rail track, and when the passenger train from Abuja to Kaduna got to that point, the bomb exploded twice, thereby causing the train to derail.
“About an hour later, soldiers were mobilized It was at that point that soldiers were mobilized to the area about an hour later, and they were able to disperse the bandits, who also escaped with some of the hostages”.
After calm was restored by the soldiers, the passengers walked about 45 kilometres under security cover to the Abuja-Kaduna highway, and from there, they were conveyed in buses to the 44 Nigerian Army Reference hospital in the Kaduna state capital, where those who sustained injury were immediately treated.
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