April 27, (THEWILL) – Terrorists, who attacked the Kaduna-bound train, have released four new photographs of the hostages, about a month after the attack.
The photographs were released by the terrorists on Monday and posted on Facebook by Bilkisu Yero, a lecturer at the Kaduna State University.
Some family members of the victims who saw the photographs confirmed that their relatives were among the captives including men, women, and children.
One of the photos had 23 victims comprising mostly women and five children. Among the 18 women is the 85-year-old woman said to be diabetic. There were 17 male victims in the second photograph, including a foreigner.
The third photo displayed six of the victims, one of whom has a bandage wrapped on his right leg. The were 16 people in the fourth photo.
Some Nigerians, who wrote in the comment section of the Facebook post, said they could recognise their relatives among the captives.
“Oh my dear sister and mum, first and second on your right hand sitting on the floor. Allah ya fida ku baki daya”, one Yussuf Attah wrote.
Another Facebook user, Isma’el Yarima added: “I can sight my sister. May Allah protect you all.”
This is not the first time the terrorists had released evidence on the abducted victims in a bid to force the Federal Government to negotiate for their release.
A few days after the attack, they released a video clip showing the Managing Director/Chief Executive of Bank of Agriculture (BoA), Alwan Ali Hassan, who was later released by terrorists over old age.
A week later, the hoodlums released two video footages of some of the passengers in an unknown location and threatened to kill them if the government refused to meet their demands.
Two Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) planted by the terrorists in one of the train’s coaches went off and forced it to derail a few minutes into the trip on March 28, in Kaduna.
Though, the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) is unsure of the actual number of abducted passengers, at least eight persons were confirmed dead, 41 injured and over 100 others reportedly abducted by the terrorists after the attack.
Latest reports as shown in the photographs released by the terrorists confirmed 68 passengers, including 41 women, 22 men and five children were abducted.
The terrorists had only released Alwan Ali Hassan, the Managing Director/Chief Executive of Bank of Agriculture (BoA).
He had told those who visited him that they were subjected to five days of trekking from the attack scene to a forest in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State
There were speculations that two expectant mothers among the victims, including a lady said to be due for a caesarean section (CS), were delivered of their babies. The terrorists reportedly brought in a medical personnel, who helped in the process.
Arise TV quoted a family source as confirming that one of the two pregnant women has given birth.
“According to reports by family sources, she gave birth with the aid of doctors brought in by the terrorists. We can also report that the terrorists are demanding the release of their top commanders in exchange for the abducted train passengers.
“According to sources, the terrorists are Kanuri speaking, suggesting that were from the North-east region and backed by the deadly Islamic state group- ISWAP”, Arise Tv reported, adding that the government was apprehensive that the detainees who have strong ties with Boko Haram, if released, could cause a bigger security threat to the nation.
The families of the kidnapped victims are expected to hold a press conference today in Abuja and Kaduna to further mount pressure on the government to rescue their loved ones in captivity.
