Members of a gang that kidnapped people for cash ransoms assaulted in March the train that covers the route between this city and Kaduna. It took 23 hostages, who were freed on October 5 thanks to a military operation, according to an official announcement, in which seven people were killed.

On its first trip since the incident, the train is carrying few passengers and a large detachment of military personnel armed with assault rifles, as well as two armored vehicles and other military ones.

The rail service is vital for the transportation of passengers and goods between this capital and Kaduna due to the poor state of the roads and the omnipresent danger of assaults by criminal gangs, described by President Mohammadu Buhari as enemies of humanity.

In addition to gang attacks, Nigeria faces attacks by the Islamist group Boko Haram, based in the northeastern state of Borno, and separatist groups in the southeast.

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