THE Kaduna State Government on Tuesday said it has concluded the evacuation of passengers from the train attacked by terrorists on Monday night.
The Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs Samuel Aruwan disclosed this in a security update.
Although he did not provide enough information on the condition of the evacuated passengers, Aruwan said injuries and other fatalities were recorded in the attack.
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“Passengers who sustained injuries, and other fatalities, have been moved to hospitals.
“The passengers were evacuated from different hard-to-reach areas in forests and rocky locations in Audujongom, off the Kaduna-Abuja Road,” he said.
According to him, the state governor Nasir El-Rufai commended everyone involved in the evacuation and urged the hospitals to attend diligently to victims.
“The governor also directed the Ministry of Health to be in contact with the hospitals as government will bear the cost of their treatment.
“As of the time of this update, search-and-rescue operations are in progress,” he said.
The ICIR had reported that terrorists used improvised explosive devices to derail a train headed for Kaduna from Abuja on Monday evening.
Parts of the train had been destroyed and the terrorists attacked the train, shooting sporadically.
Travelling to and from Kaduna is gradually becoming an arduous tasks as almost every means of transportation within the state is being attacked by terrorists.
Due to the activities of terrorists along the Abuja-Kaduna highway over the past few years, travellers had resorted to travelling by train which was seen as a more secure means of transportation.
However, six months ago, the National Railway Commission suspended activities along the railway for some days, after a terrorist attack on a train along the route.
Barely a week ago, terrorists also attacked the Kaduna International Airport leading to the suspension of flights to the state by an airline.
Ijeoma Opara is a journalist with The ICIR. Reach her via vopara@icirnigeria.org or @ije_le on Twitter.