JAKARTA - Armed groups have released 11 passengers kidnapped in an attack on a train in northern Nigeria in late March.
The minister of state for transport, Gbemisola Saraki, said the government was working to get all the kidnapped passengers released. Allegedly, dozens of other passengers are still being held hostage by the group. The released passengers were taken to a hospital in Abuja.
Saraki did not say how and where they were released, or whether a ransom was paid. Armed groups, dubbed bandits by locals, blew up the Abuja-Kaduna railway in the north on March 28. They then opened fire on the train that night, killing eight people.
Nigeria's state rail company initially said it could not identify the 168 people who according to passenger records had booked travel on the train.
The whereabouts of the passengers were then traced and most were known to have returned to their respective homes. However, another 65 are confirmed missing.
A video later released by the alleged bandits showed a number of people being held hostage claiming to be passengers on the train.
"We are grateful for this positive development, we share the sorrow of all the victims and their families, who have unfortunately been and are still experiencing unimaginable trauma since this tragic event," Saraki said.
Bandits have killed and kidnapped hundreds of people for ransom in northern Nigeria, scaring local people.
During Democracy Day celebrations on Sunday, President Muhammadu Buhari said Nigerians were worried about the increasingly unsafe situation. He ensured safe general elections in early 2023.
"I live every day with sadness and concern for all the victims and prisoners of terrorism and kidnapping," Buhari said in a televised address.
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