By Derrick Bangura
The picture of a new-born baby girl delivered in a terrorists’ den by a woman abducted during the March 28 attack on an Abuja-Kaduna-bound train has been released by the abductors.
The terrorist group suspected to be Ansaru, a breakaway group from Boko Haram, released the picture on Wednesday night.
ARISE News had reported the birth of the baby by the abductee in the terrorists’ den. A family member of the woman had first hinted that she had been delivered of her baby, although the identity of the new-born child was not disclosed until the terrorists released her picture.
Clad in a thick pink dress and a light lemon sweater cap, with her eyes closed, the baby looked healthy, with credible sources saying the terrorists invited a doctor to take delivery of the infant.
Out of the 63 abducted train passengers that were under captivity, only one passenger, Managing Director of the Bank of Agriculture (BOA), Alwan Hassan, has so far been released after, allegedly, paying a ransom of N100 million.
The terrorists, who attacked and abducted the passengers, had earlier this week released four different pictures of their victims, numbering 62, with the group allegedly insisting that they were not after a ransom, but an exchange of the abducted passengers with their commanders, who are in government custody.
Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, had at a recent media briefing revealed that the federal government was working behind the scenes to secure the release of all the hostages currently languishing in captivity.
Nine persons, including a young medical doctor, were killed during the attack, with scores injured and over 60 passengers kidnapped.
Reliable sources said the terrorists appeared organised and coordinated because of the way they were able to get medical supplies into the forest, a development they described as still shocking to both government and security operatives.