Police diffuses another bomb in Kaduna

Police operatives in Kaduna on Thursday diffused another Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in the Rigasa community, Igabi local government area of the state.

This came a few days after an IED went off inside one of the coaches of an Abuja-Kaduna passenger train and killed at least eight passengers while 30 others sustained injuries.

The command’s spokesman, Mohammed Jalige, who confirmed the incident to journalists, said the operatives successfully diffused the bomb which was discovered in a bucket along the Makarfi road in the community.

He said men of the command’s anti-bomb squad were deployed to the scene following a tip-off.

Jalige urged the residents to report any suspicious movement within their vicinity to the nearest police station.

The spokesman said: “Yes, there was an IED planted around Makarfi Road, Rigasa this morning. We received a distress call and our officers from the EOD were deployed to the scene.

“On getting to the scene, they identified the device as Improvised Explosive Device and they successfully defused the device without causing harm to anyone.”

Bomb attack forces NRC to suspend Kaduna-Abuja train services

The Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) on Thursday suspended train services along the Kaduna-Abuja route following the bombing of the rail tracks by suspected bandits.

The hoodlums bombed a portion of the Kaduna end of the rail track on Wednesday night.

They opened fire on the train, targeting the driver.

In a message to passengers on its booking website, the NRC said it was suspending the services for the safety of travellers.

According to the corporation, the explosives damaged the rail tracks somewhere between Dutse and Rijana areas of Kaduna.

It added that efforts to repair the damaged tracks and restore services along the route had commenced.

The notice read: “Due to unforeseen circumstances, train services have been immediately suspended for the safety of our dear passengers.

“Efforts are in place to restore service. Further information would follow immediately, the service is restored.”

Unknown militant group, Islamic State Khorasan, claims responsibility for Kabul airport blasts

A relatively unknown militant group, the Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K), has said it was behind the twin blasts at the Kabul airport that killed over 100 and injured more than 150 people at the Kabul airport in conflict-ridden Afghanistan on Thursday.

In a statement of claim on Friday, the group claimed responsibility for the bombings and vowed to continue carrying out similar attacks till the United States and its allies leave the Asian country.

Investigations into the groups’ activities has revealed that it is one of the most extreme and violent of all the jihadist militant groups in Afghanistan, though it has been operating in the shadows of the more known Taliban terrorist group.

According to a BBC report, the IS-K is a regional affiliate of the group calling itself Islamic State and is active in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The group has been blamed for some of the worst atrocities in recent years, targeting girls’ schools, hospitals, and even a maternity ward of pregnant women, infants, and nurses were shot dead.

They are said to be part of the global IS Network that seeks to carry out attacks on western, international and humanitarian targets wherever they can reach them, with links to the Taliban through a third party, the Haqqani Network.

But they have major differences with the Taliban, accusing them of abandoning Jihad and the battlefield in favour of a negotiated peace settlement, and now represent a major security challenge for the incoming Taliban government.

Two killed in Kabul shooting, bomb attack.

Separate attacks on Wednesday, as violence continues amid speculation Taliban and Afghan government talks may be delayed further.

At least two people have been killed in a bomb attack that was followed by a shooting in Kabul.

Unknown gunmen shot and killed Mohammad Yousuf Rasheed, the head of an independent Afghan elections watchdog on Wednesday, said Ferdaws Faramarz, a spokesman for Kabul’s police chief.

The shooting took place when Rasheed, the executive director of the NGO, Free and Fair Election Forum of Afghanistan, was on his way to work.His driver was wounded and taken to hospital, Faramarz said.

In a separate attack, a police vehicle was targeted by a sticky bomb in the eastern part of the capital.

The blast killed one police officer and wounded two others, according to Faramarz. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks.

The ISIL (ISIS) group claimed responsibility for an attack in Kabul a day earlier in which a roadside bomb tore through a vehicle, killing five people, three of them doctors on their way to work at the city’s main prison.

Among those killed in Tuesday’s attack was Nazefa Ibrahimi, the acting health director of the prison. Another doctor was in a serious condition.


Their car, a white sedan, did not appear to have any markings on it that indicated its passengers were medical workers. The vehicle was almost completely destroyed in the blast.

ISIL has claimed responsibility for multiple attacks in Kabul in recent months, including on educational institutions that have killed 50 people, mostly students.

Violence in Afghanistan has spiked even amid the Taliban and Afghan government peace negotiations, which began in September.

The talks have been suspended until early January after some recent procedural progress, and there is speculation the resumption could be further delayed.