Security forces have reportedly freed six people, including children, who were abducted by gunmen at a train station in Igueben, according to authorities in Nigeria’s southern Edo state.
The police claimed that the victims were waiting to board a train when they were attacked and abducted by alleged criminal gangs, as we previously reported.
The train station has been closed indefinitely, and more than 20 additional hostages are still unaccounted for.
A suspect has been detained in relation to the kidnappings, according to the Edo State Spokesman.
Eyewitnesses of the Saturday incident said some of the passengers sustained gunshot injuries.
The Nigerian government has condemned the kidnapping of the passengers describing it as despicable and utterly barbaric.
The attack comes less than two months before Nigeria’s general election.
In March last year gunmen attacked a Kaduna-bound train in northern Nigeria, killing some passengers and kidnapping dozens of others.