The Nigerian military has deployed some of its attack helicopters to monitor the Kaduna-Abuja railway tracks.
This was announced at a press briefing on Thursday, November 11 by the acting director, Defence Media Operations, Brigadier-General Bernard Onyeuko.
Although Brigadier-General Onyeuko did not say much on the new initiative, he, however, confirmed that the monitoring has started.
Asked to explain more on the military exercise, Onyeuko said:
‘’The important thing is the Nigerian Air Force is present at the rail tracks. Suffice to say, the operation has started. Even if you travel by road, you will see our helicopters along that route.’’
There have been a series of attacks on trains and railway tracks by some yet to be unidentified bandits. railway occurred on the night of Wednesday, October 20 and the early morning of Thursday, October 21.
Raising alarm over the incident, a former lawmaker who represented Kaduna central in the Eight Senate, Shehu Sani, said the bandits had planted some explosives on the rail track.
According, to Shehu Sani, the explosive planted by the bandits damaged a portion of the rail track preventing the movement of trains along the Kaduna-Abuja railway.
Sani called on the federal government and the leadership of the Nigerian Railway Corporation to take action against the bandits.
Following the former lawmaker's recommendation, the NRC suspended all train movement for two days to allow the FG to sort the security issues out.
Officials of the NRC said services on the route were also suspended as investigations were ongoing to determine if the facility was actually bombed as widely speculated.
In a swift move, the managing director of the NRC, Fidet Okhiria, said the attack on the rail track was carried out by vandals.
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