No fewer than 184 passengers of the ill-fated Kaduna-bound train attacked by terrorists last Monday are still unaccounted for as the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), on Saturday confirmed the safety of 170 passengers.
The corporation also stated that the train had only 362 validated passengers aboard, according to the Train Manifest, even though it said that the train has a capacity of 840 seats.
With eight passengers confirmed dead officially while 170 were declared safe, a total of 184 passengers were still unaccounted for, according to the official records.
NRC did not clarify if the 26 injured passengers were among the 170 declared safe.
Meanwhile, in a show of force, the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Usman Baba, on Saturday patrolled the entire 163 kilometre-stretch of the Abuja-Kaduna expressway for on-the-spot assessment of the security challenges in the area and to personally supervise the operational deployment of officers drawn from the police tactical squads to ensure the safety of travellers along the route.
Also in an apparent response to the frustrations expressed by Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State and the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has deployed rockets, bombs, and fighter jets in simultaneous airstrikes to eliminate over 100 terrorists in Zamfara, Kaduna and Borno states.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Saturday by its Managing Director/CEO, Mr Fidet Okhiria, the NRC disclosed that 21 passengers were reported missing by the relatives who made calls to the corporation.
Okhiria said Saturday’s update on the incident was necessary to prevent the circulation of falsehood or misleading information to the general public.
“For the records, there were 11 coaches on the train worked by Loco 2502, which is made up of four SPA Coaches with 56 sitting capacity per coach and 7 SP Coaches with 88 sitting capacity per coach.
“Thus, the total seat capacity of the train is 840 seats. You may also recall that the Train Manifest contained 362 validated passengers aboard the train,” he added.
The NRC boss hinted that the corporation, in continuation of its concerted effort through repeated calls, has been able to confirm the safety of “170 passengers, while 21 passengers are reported missing by the relatives who made calls to us.”
He further said that the corporation was seriously collaborating with the security agents, who had already swung into action, in line with the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari to do everything possible to rescue all those that are still missing.
He noted that: “The corporation is also not resting on its oars as she has heavily moved human and material resources to the accident site to make sure that train services resumed without further delays in other to reduce the stress that our passengers are currently going through.
“In practical terms, a high-powered restoration team, led by directors has been working round the clock to re-rail the coaches affected by the bomb blast.”
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He added: “There is a coordinated two-pronged simultaneous restoration approach. While Loco 2702 with re-railment and restoration materials departed Idu Station, Abuja to the bomb blast site, another team with Loco 2502 departed Rigasa Station, Kaduna with re-railment and restoration materials to the same site.
“I am happy to inform you that as at the close of work on the 1st of April 2022, Coaches SP00004, SP00009, SP00012, SP00013 have all been re-railed and safely taken to our Rigasa Station in Kaduna. Restoration of track for the full resumption of normal train services will continue today 2nd April 2022.”
Continuing, he said that arrangements had equally been put in place for increased security along the track and onboard the train to prevent the recurrence of the unfortunate incident.
IG Patrols Abuja-Kaduna Highway, Deploys Tactical Squads, Drones
In a related development, the Police IG patrolled the entire 163 kilometre-stretch of the Abuja-Kaduna expressway for on-the-spot assessment of the security challenges in the area and to personally supervise the operational deployment of officers drawn from the police tactical squads to ensure the safety of travellers along the route.
A statement issued by Force Headquarters stated that in the course of the patrol, the IG mapped out some salient and strategic points along the expressway, which were immediately fortified with the deployment of operatives drawn from the Police Mobile Force (PMF), Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU), Special Forces (SF), Intelligence Response Team (IRT) and the Special Tactical Squad (STS), as well as air wing operatives in charge of unmanned aerial vehicles of the Nigeria Police.
During the patrol, the IG visited personnel of the armed forces and police deployed at Rijana to secure the technical crew of the NRC undertaking repair works at the damaged train coaches and rail line in the axis to boost their morale and assess the state of their post.
“The Inspector-General of Police assures that with the strategic and operational deployment of officers along the route, normalcy would once again be restored while he tasked members of the public on active intelligence sharing with law enforcement agencies for effective policing of all spaces,” the statement said.
Military Eliminates 100 Terrorists in Zamfara, Kaduna, Borno
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Moved by the frustrations expressed by Governor El-Rufai of Kaduna State and the Minister of Transportation, Amaechi, the NAF has deployed rockets, bombs, and fighter jets in simultaneous airstrikes to eliminate over 100 terrorists in Zamfara, Kaduna and Borno states.
Following the bombing of the Kaduna-bound commercial train, el-Rufai had threatened that the governors would invite mercenaries to deal with the insecurity in the North-west if the security agencies failed to bomb the locations of the terrorists, which he said were known by the government.
On his part, Amaechi suggested that the government may engage NAF to escort trains.
THISDAY, however, gathered that fighter planes operating under the air component of Operations Hadin Kai, Hadarin Daji and Thunders Strike, struck terrorist locations in the North-east and North-west killing scores of terrorists in the three locations.
Security sources told THISDAY that after days of intelligence gathering in the North-east, it was concluded that terrorists’ activities in the Tumbuns near Bukar Meram and Kollaram had heightened as terrorists had converted the location into an important rendezvous point for ISWAP fighters.
Bukar Meram is a known prominent ISWAP enclave in Lake Chad.
According to the sources, further intelligence revealed that a large stockpile of weapons was concealed in the two locations in anticipation of terrorists’ offensive operations.
The sources confirmed that Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) were conducted on March 28, 2022, where significant activities and gathering of different sets of terrorist fighters were observed at Bukar Meran while ISWAP activities were seen about 2 kilometres South of Kollaram.
“This further confirmed the locations as hideouts for terrorists. Therefore, there was the need to conduct air interdiction at Bukar Meram and South of Kollaram to neutralise terrorists and soften the ground for Nigerian Army troops to exploit.
“Subsequently, NAF aircraft were authorised to attack the locations. In coordination with other platforms, bombs and rockets were simultaneously dropped on the targets, while surviving and fleeing terrorists were mobbed up,” a military source told THISDAY.
It was learnt that similar successful strikes were also recorded by the Air Component of Operation Hadarin Daji when a fighter jet dispatched on Armed Recce sighted over 50 terrorists on motorcycles converging under the cover of huge vegetation at Sangeko Forest, in Maru Local Government Area (LGA) of Zamfara State.
“The terrorists upon sighting the aircraft immediately dispersed in confusion. It was however too late as the fighter jets took decisive turns in engaging the terrorists with cannons in successive passes, leading to the decimation of the miscreants and destruction of their motorcycles.
“Credible feedback from locals at Sangeko disclosed that the terrorists suffered heavy casualties as their significant number were neutralised while the few survivors escaped with various degrees of injuries”, the source said.
In Kaduna State, overnight ISR conducted between 30 and 31 March 2022, at Kusasu revealed four motorcycles departing the location to a slightly forested area Southwards of Kusasu.
“Within the same location, several other motorcycles were observed moving in pairs at random from one place to another. Since the coordinates tallied with previous intelligence earlier received that the location is a hibernating point for terrorists, NAF aircraft engaged the most viable spot which was observed to have the most significant human and motorcycle activities.
“After the impacts of the strikes, about 33 terrorists’ bodies were counted, while others dispersed in various directions. The groups were trailed for a while to determine their final resting points in preparation for another possible strike. However, they all fizzled out making them non-viable targets”, he said.
The NAF Spokesman, Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet, confirmed the three operations, saying the objectives of the sustained simultaneous kinetic air operations were “aimed at ramping up the pressure on terrorists’ elements in the North-east and North-west to ensure that relative peace is achieved”.
He also appealed to Nigerians to continue to assist troops with useful information as regards the activities of terrorist elements around their communities, just as he reassured them that the NAF and other security agencies were working round the clock to checkmate their activities.
Kingsley Nwezh, Kasim Sumaina in Abuja and David-Chyddy Eleke in Awka