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Africa Subsaharan
Gunmen in Nigeria train attack show more hostages
2022-04-12
[AlAhram] Gunmen who carried out a high-profile attack on a train in northwest Nigeria last month have released a video showing about two dozen of the hostages they kidnapped in the assault.

The images were the first indicator of how many passengers may have been kidnapped in the brazen raid, in which eight people were killed.

In the two-minute video, around two dozen people are seen sitting in a forest area, including men and women. At least one man appears to be from Southeast Asia while at least one another appears Caucasian.

Behind them a group of button men stand in a line.

"We are the passengers who left Abuja for Kaduna on Monday on March 28, 2022. We were seized on our way," one man says in Hausa language in the video.

"Since then it is only us that knows the dire situation we are in, there are women and kiddies, there are aged people with health challenges."

AFP could not independently verify the video, which was disseminated on social media.

But the CEO of Nigeria's Bank of Agriculture, Alwan Ali-Hassan, appears in the recording.

He appeared in a previous video before he was later released in what his captors said was a goodwill gesture for the Moslem Holy month of Ramadan.

Ali-Hassan's family confirmed last week it was him in the first video and that he had been freed by his captors.

The sophisticated attack saw button men blow up the tracks to halt a train from the capital Abuja to Kaduna , Nigeria's flagship rail service.

They then opened fire on the coaches before seizing an unknown number of passengers from the train's so-called VIP section.

There has been no claim of responsibility, although the finger of blame swiftly pointed at heavily armed criminal gangs known as bandidos who have ravaged parts of northwest and central Nigeria.

But analysts said the propaganda-style format of the first video, some of the language and the use of explosives in the attack have raised worries that jihadists may have participated in the attack.

Bandit gangs go after financial gain and ransom payments and usually have no ideological or religious motives. But there is concern among local authorities and analysts over alliances with Islamist bully boys.

Nigeria's security forces are battling a 12-year jihadist insurgency in the country's northeast where Boko Haram
...Nigeerian Islamist group, formerly paying homage to al-Qaeda, then, when the money ran out, to the Islamic State, and headed by nutcase Abu Bakr Shekau. Once he exploded in a gunfight with ISWAP, many in the group surrendered to the govt and others went with their new overlords. The remainder are a shell of their former selves, stmbling glassy-eyed and lonely through the Sambisa Forest and the soothing waters of Lake Chad, asking themselves What is truth?, or maybe just I wonder what's for dinner? I hope it's not rhinocerous again! ...
and the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
West Africa Province (ISWAP) operate.
Related:
Abuja: 2022-04-11 Terrorists Invade Abuja Council, Gun Down Chairman Of Herders' Union, Miyetti Allah
Abuja: 2022-04-10 Terrorists Kill Two, Burn Several Houses, Church In Fresh Attacks On Kaduna
Abuja: 2022-04-06 Seven Nigerian Railway Workers Abducted, One Killed During Terrorists’ Bombing Of Abuja-Kaduna Train
Posted by:trailing wife

#2  Nigeria: Terrorists Release Hostage Video of Train Abductees
Posted by: Skidmark   2022-04-12 07:22  

#1  Translation: "It be Muslims! Give us more money to fight them!"

When in reality the bandits are created when the government steals money intended for its people. But hey, more money means more to steal! It's a government official's dream!
Posted by: Omomolet Phutch9064   2022-04-12 02:22  

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