Thirty-one passengers were taken hostage after gunmen attacked a train station in south Nigeria’s Edo state, a spokesperson for the state government said on Sunday.
A group of gunmen broke into the Igueben train station on Saturday evening, firing shots sporadically in the air and kidnapping passengers who were heading for Warri, a city in the neighbouring Delta state.
Initially, 32 people were taken hostage and one managed to escape, Chris Nehikhare, the spokesperson, told reporters in the state capital Benin City.
Security operatives had started combing the bushes around the station in search of the fleeing gunmen and the kidnapped victims, said Nehikhare.
The incident is coming 10 months after bandits attacked the Abuja-Kaduna train service, killing 14 passengers and abducting 65 others. They were released after spending months in captivity and paying a ransom.
