31 taken hostage after train station attack in south Nigeria

LAGOS: 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 neighboring 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.

-Xinhua