The widely held view that Boko Haram terrorists have struck an alliance with bandits was confirmed yesterday by the Federal Government.

The government said the “unholy handshake” is responsible for the upsurge in killings in Plateau and Kaduna states as well as the attack on the Kaduna-bound train from Abuja on March 28.

The government, however, assured that efforts were on to crush the insurgents.

Minister for Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, and his Defence counterpart Gen. Bashir Magashi spoke on the worsening insecurity after yesterday’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at Aso Villa.

Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai had hinted at the alliance of the terrorists after the train attack in which nine people were killed and no fewer than 68 people abducted and taken to the forest in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State.

The terrorists are demanding huge ransoms from the family members of their victims.

In the Plateau attack, more than 100 people were killed, 70 residents were kidnapped and about 100 houses were destroyed by terrorists last Sunday.

Mohammed said: “What is happening now is that there is a kind of unholy handshake between bandits and Boko Haram insurgents.

“Preliminary reports of what transpired at the Kaduna train attack show that there is a kind of collaboration between the bandits and dislodged Boko Haram terrorists from the Northeast.

“I can tell you very confidently that the Federal Government is on top of this matter.

“As I explained here last week, we are fighting an asymmetrical war, a war in which the other side does not obey or recognise the rules of engagement, but where we are compelled to fight according to the rules of engagement.