In a statement posted on Facebook by Samuel Arwan, commissioner of the Kaduna State Department of Homeland Security and Home Affairs, and signed by Moywa Adeki, special advisor to the governor, the incident was described as a terrorist attack.
Osman told CNN on Thursday that the train had two explosions before the gunmen opened fire on the trapped passengers.
“About 25 minutes after the end of the journey, there was the first explosion. It was getting dark and the train’s electrical system exploded…All we could see were explosion lights (fireworks). The train was still moving and within 30 seconds there was a second explosion which led to The train derailed. The next thing we heard was sporadic gunshots… gunshots everywhere, through the windows.”
Othman said that the gunmen, after shelling the railway, surrounded the vehicles and opened fire.
Adiki said at least 26 people were wounded in the attack. Nigerian state media, NAN, has reported that an unknown number of passengers have been hijacked from the train.
Military forces and other security agencies are conducting search and rescue operations to retrieve the kidnapped passengers, according to Nan.
This is the second time a train has been attacked along the Abuja-Kaduna railway in the past six months.
Her father confirmed to CNN that Chenilo Megafu, a dental surgeon, was among eight people killed on Monday.
Osman told CNN that Megavu said she was shot after she and other passengers ran into his section of the train.
“People from other coaches ran to the coach I was in. I think she (Megafu) was among them. When I walked in, she took cover next to me. That was when I heard her say she was shot. I asked her how she knew she was shot, and she said she could feel it I asked her to touch the place where she felt pain and she said she could feel some fluid there… In that case, there was nothing I could do but give her hope that we would be saved.
“Someone gave her water hoping it would refresh her while I took out the seat cover and fanned her with it. Through her breathing, I saw that life was gradually coming out of her. After about an hour [and] “After 30 minutes, the rescue team came and started evacuating,” Othman said.
beautiful future
Megafu graduated from the University of Port Harcourt College of Dentistry in Nigeria’s southern region in 2016, a faculty official told CNN Thursday.
“She was very wonderful and had a beautiful future,” one of her lecturers, Modupeoluwa Soroye, told CNN. “We are still in shock, the College of Dentistry is in mourning.”
“She was one of us and very young,” Surui added.
A friend of Megafu’s family told CNN on Thursday that she is scheduled to leave Nigeria for Canada this weekend.
“Since that day (Mon) the accident happened, she was going to be in Canada in five days to start her master’s programme,” said Dabo Akintund, a friend of Megavu’s father.
“I’m in the midst of a lot of issues right now, including… [the] Funeral… I’m trying to see how I can get my daughter out of Kaduna.”
The Nigerian Medical Association described her death as “tragic, horrific and preventable”.
Nigerians mourned Megafu’s death, with many expressing outrage over the deteriorating security situation in the country.
One of Megafu’s friends, Dr. Olusina Ajidahun, told CNN: “It’s sad that insecurity took her before her time. Her death is really touching. Nigeria has lost Chinilu. Nigeria has failed to protect her.”
The Kaduna state government did not identify the militants who carried out the attack.
In recent years, kidnapping for ransom has become an ongoing problem across Nigeria.
Days before the train attack, armed gangs known locally as “bandits” shot and killed an airport guard as they roamed the fence surrounding Kaduna Airport, Nigeria’s Airspace Administration Authority told local media.
This followed a series of road attacks and kidnappings carried out by notorious gangs in the volatile northwestern state.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said he was “deeply pained” by Monday’s attack, calling it “cruel”, while ordering the country’s military to “deal harshly” with the terrorists.
The Nigerian Railways Corporation announced, on Tuesday, a temporary closure of the Abuja-Kaduna road following the train ambush.
Nigeria’s Transport Minister Shibuike Amaichi said on Wednesday that train services will resume with “air security from the Air Force” when the damaged railway track is repaired.
It is not clear when the train service will resume on the road.
The train attack comes amid a slew of problems plaguing Nigeria as the local population suffers from constant shortages of fuel and electricity.
Weeks of scarcity has exacerbated the suffering of citizens already burdened by inflation and sharp rises in food prices, with scarce petroleum products selling at two or three times the price on the unregulated black market.
