Nigeria train attack: Gunmen release bank executive

Nigerian gunmen who staged a deadly attack on a busy train last week have released one of the captives they abducted during the incident.

Some 168 people are missing and it is not clear how many of them were kidnapped for ransom – some may have gone home without telling the authorities.

Family sources have confirmed to the BBC that Alwan Hassan, the head of Nigeria’s Bank of Agriculture, was released on Wednesday evening.

The banker in his 60s was the first captive to be freed.

In a video message, the gunmen said they released Mr Hassan because they “pity’’ him given his ‘”old age, the passionate pleas he made and in the spirit of Ramadan’’.

One of the gunmen said the government must meet their demands before they release the remaining “many abductees’’ – without mentioning those demands and the number of people they are still holding.

They also did not say which group they were working for. But they said they’re not seeking any ransom.

‘”What we need is not your money. You know our demands,” they said, referring to the government.

The governor of Kaduna state Nasir el-Rufai has blamed elements from the militant group Boko Haram for the attack.

Source: BBC