Kaduna police deny attack on Kaduna-Abuja train by gunmen

Police have denied the story of an attack on a Kaduna-Abuja bound passenger train.

Kaduna State Police Command Spokesman, DSP Yakubu Sabo Abuba­kar, denied the incident.

He said the command was not informed and has not received any informa­tion of any attack of such.

However, a staff of the Nigeria Railway Corpora­tion in Kaduna who plead­ed anonymity said the train was stoned by under-aged bystanders close to villages where there are substations who mostly hang around to have a look at the train.

Also, a passenger on the train confirmed the stoning of the train, noting that the train was close to Jere junc­tion when they heard the bang on the window.

He denied attack by gun­men on the train that de­parted Rigassa train sta­tion at around 10.30 am on Thursday, noting that on many occasions the corpo­ration has changed window glasses of the train as a re­sult of stoning by underage bystanders in villages or rail crossing.

There was an earlier re­port of an attack on the Ka­duna Abuja train on Thurs­day by gunmen.

The staff explained, “We have been warning under­aged children in most of these areas to desist from throwing pebbles at the train whenever they come out to have a view of a pass­ing train.”

“The situation was what some people thought to be an attacked by gunmen, which the corporation is trying to sensitize the youth to desist from.”

An official of the council, who does not want to be named, disclosed that one of the victims was an ap­pointee in the council.

Efforts to reach the chair­man of the council to get his reaction to the inci­dent proved abortive, while members of the council’s executive declined to com­ment.