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Train Attack – Terrorists Threaten Government Warns That Abductees May Be Killed
In a newly released video, attackers of the Abuja-Kaduna bound train have threatened the Nigerian government, describing the train attack as child’s play compared to what they are capable of.
The 80-seconds clip that quickly went viral after it surfaced on Twitter showed four of the attackers with masked faces dressed in military camouflage and heavily armed standing behind what looked like an armored tank.
The video is suspected to have been recorded shortly after the release of the Bank of Agriculture Managing Director, Alwan Ali-Hassan who was one of the passengers on the ill-fated train.
Ali-Hassan also appears in the video and is dressed in a white kaftan flanked by two of the terrorists on each side. The video begins with one who appears to be their leader making Islamic prayers in Arabic and Hausa before going on to claim responsibility for the train attack, adding that they had decided to release Ali-Hassan in honor of the season of Ramadan and because he is aged and had been begging for his release.
“We are the ones who kidnapped the people on the train. We decided to release this man (Ali-Hassan) because of the honor of the month of Ramadan and because he is old. He has been pleading since we kidnapped him,” the terrorist said in the video.
With a terrified look, Ali-Hassan in what seemed to be a forced speech spoke in Hausa saying;
“I would like to let you know that these people’s pitied me and allowed me to go because of my age. But I have left many people behind in a condition that they need help. The government should contact the leaders of this group and negotiate their release because they are in a situation that need immediate help.”
On the contrary, Ali-Hassan is believed to have been released after his family whom the attackers contacted sent a ransom in order to regain the MD’s freedom. The amount has not been disclosed but is suspected to be to the tune of hundreds of millions of naira.
An employee of the BOA, as well as a family source, confirmed the MD’s release and return to his home in Kaduna.
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The terrorists ended their speech by asking that the government give them what they want and that the attack had nothing to do with money but a demand that the government is aware of. They also threaten to kill their abductees should the government fail to heed their demand.
“Government should hasten to meet us before we turn this place into an abattoir because killing these people is nothing to us. It’s not about money. We can’t do this for money. The government knows what we want,” he said.
Other families with kidnapped victims have revealed to the media that the terrorists have been in contact with them and are demanding huge sums ranging between 5 and 100 million naira. The families have also said that the terrorists have warned them against involving security agencies. Reports say that the affected families have begun the process of raising funds to ransom their loved ones.
Analyzing the video, Bulama Burkati, a Senior Conflict Analyst at the Tony Blair Institute who posted the clip on Twitter said that early evidence suggests that the terrorists are from the Boko Haram group of terrorists. Some are of the belief that the terrorist’s demand from the government might be a prisoner swap.
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