Buhari claims that train attackers use hostages as shields

Train attackers | President Muhammadu Buhari said that the armed groups who took hundreds of people hostage in a train attack in northern Nigeria are using people as human shields, making it impossible for the military to try and free the people.

According to the Nigerian Railway Corporation, more than 150 people are still missing as a result of the March 28 incident. Families of the abducted claim there is no indication of government rescue efforts.

Buhari stated in a statement on Monday that the government was attempting to avoid a “tragic end” to any rescue mission. The administration has been chastised for not doing enough to save the passengers.

The kidnappers are using people as human shields, which makes it hard to confront them directly, he said.

According to the statement, it’s a very dangerous situation. Any rescue effort where a hostage is killed can’t be called a success.

Every day in northwest Nigeria, armed gangs called “bandits” kidnap people and demand money in exchange for their safe return.

It has raised security concerns in a country already dealing with the militant group Boko Haram and its branches in the northeast, as well as a rise in crime across the country.