- Wednesday, March 12, 2025
Hundreds of troops and teams in helicopters have mounted an operation to rescue hostages in the remote mountainous area where the train has been stopped
By: India Weekly
A DAY after Baloch separatists took hundreds of train passengers hostage in the troubled Balochistan province, Pakistani security forces claim they have killed at least 27 militants and rescued 155 passengers as they continued to battle rebels on Wednesday (12).
Security sources said 37 passengers were injured during the rescue operation and have been sent for medical treatment.
The Jaffar Express, with around 500 passengers on board in nine coaches, was travelling from Quetta to Peshawar when armed men intercepted it in a tunnel near the mountainous terrain of Gudalar and Piru Kunri in the Bolan area on Tuesday afternoon.
The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) later claimed responsibility for the attack.
Bolan is a mountainous area of more than 100 kilometres between Quetta and Sibi. There are 17 tunnels in this area through which the railway track passes.
The speed of trains is often slow in the area due to the difficult terrain.
The train was trapped in a tunnel and the driver was killed after sustaining serious injuries, police and railway officials said.
Hundreds of troops and teams in helicopters have mounted an operation to rescue hostages in the remote mountainous area where the train has been stopped.
Human shields
According to security sources, the rescue efforts have been hampered because terrorists have positioned suicide bombers wearing suicidal vests very close to some innocent hostages.
In anticipation of possible defeat, the terrorists are using innocent people as human shields and the suicide bombers have taken women and children hostage at three different locations, they said.
Due to the presence of women and children with the suicide bombers, the operation is being conducted with utmost caution.
The BLA has threatened to start executing hostages unless Baloch political prisoners, activists, and missing persons it said had been abducted by the military were released within 48 hours.
The group shared a message from one of its fighters on the train calling on people in Balochistan to join their fight against the Pakistani state.
“Comrades are shedding their blood for you, for this motherland,” the man said in the message, posted on Telegram.
BLA is the largest of several ethnic armed groups battling Pakistan’s government in the mineral-rich province of Balochistan, bordering Afghanistan and Iran.
Soldiers, Punjabis targeted
The security source said that after taking control of the train, the insurgents began pulling passengers off and checking their identification.
“They were looking for soldiers and security personnel,” the official said, adding that at least 11 people, including paramilitary troops, had been killed so far.
A senior army official confirmed to the BBC that more than 100 army personnel were travelling from Quetta on the train.
Several passengers told AFP that gunmen demanded to see identity cards to confirm who was from outside the province.
“They came and checked IDs and service cards and shot two soldiers in front of me and took the other four to… I don’t know where,” said one passenger who asked not to be identified, after walking four hours to the nearest train station.
“Those who were Punjabis were taken away by the terrorists,” he said.
Around 80 of the released passengers were taken to Quetta under “tight security”, said a police official who was not authorised to speak to the media.
A woman, who said her son was among the passengers still held hostage, confronted provincial minister Mir Zahoor Buledi when he visited the freed passengers.
“I beg you with folded hands, please bring my child back. Why didn’t you stop the trains if they were not safe? If the train was never going to reach its destination, why let it depart?” she said.
A Reuters journalist saw nearly 100 empty coffins at Quetta railway station where more people who were aboard the Jaffer Express were expected to arrive.
Pakistan Railways has suspended all operations from Punjab and Sindh provinces to Balochistan until security agencies confirm the area is safe, local media reported on Wednesday.
Buledi told reporters that the government was working to improve the security situation in the region.
Surge in attacks
The BLA claim the region’s natural resources are being exploited by outsiders and has increased attacks targeting Pakistanis from other regions, security forces and foreign infrastructure projects.
Security forces have been battling a decades-long insurgency in impoverished Balochistan but last year saw a surge in violence in the province compared with 2023, according to the independent Centre for Research and Security Studies.
It found 2024 was the deadliest year for Pakistan in a decade, with violence rising along the Afghanistan border since the Taliban government took back power in Kabul in 2021.
Pakistan blames its neighbour for allowing militant groups safe haven to plan and launch attacks on Pakistan, a charge Kabul denies. (Agencies)
