The Nigeria Railway Corporation has put on hold services on the Abuja-Kaduna route following a double attack of the train track by suspected terrorists.
The bandits first attacked the train on Wednesday night and successfully immobilized it after struggling to move for 7km after the attack.
The bandits, according to sources, return again on Thursday morning and planted explosive devices on the rail track.
A passenger of the early morning train, Shehu Sani, a Senator who represented Kaduna Central in the 8th National Assembly, confirmed the incident on his Facebook page.
Officials of the corporation confirmed on Thursday that services on the route had been halted but stated that investigations were ongoing to determine if the facility was actually bombed as widely speculated.
Sani said “Yesterday (Wednesday) terrorists attacked the Kaduna-Abuja railway with an explosive and opened fire on the train, targeting the engine driver and the tank.
“This (Thursday) morning, I was onboard when our train ran over another explosive damaged rail.”
The Abuja/Kaduna Train Service Station Manager, Paschal Nnorli, confirmed to our correspondent that there was an attack on the train, but could not tell if it was with an explosive.
“Yes, there was an attack, but right now I cannot confirm if it was an explosive or bomb attack as people are saying,” he said.0
Nnorli added, “Investigations are ongoing and I’ll give you updates as they come in. Our engineers have been mobilised to the area. And right now we have suspended services.”