Dozens of passengers taken hostage by militants in Pakistan train hijack

Yahoo

11-03-2025

Militants hijacked a passenger train in Pakistan, taking dozens of people hostage and threatening to execute them if security forces did not withdraw.
The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), a separatist group, took responsibility for the attack and issued a 48-hour ultimatum, demanding a prisoner exchange with Pakistan authorities.
The Jaffar Express, carrying over 400 passengers in nine coaches, was travelling from Quetta to the northern city of Peshawar when it came under attack in the mountainous Bolan district of Balochistan in southwestern Pakistan.
Shahid Rind, a Balochistan government spokesman, said rescue efforts were under way despite difficult terrain.
An emergency has been declared at major hospitals in Sibi, a city 100 miles south-east of Quetta, after reports of 'intense firing' at the train.
At Quetta railway station, anxious families huddled together, desperate for any news of their loved ones. Among them was Muhammad Farhan hoping for a message that had yet to come.
'My brother was on that train. We haven't heard a word from him since morning,' he said, his voice trembling. 'We don't know if he's safe, if he's even alive. No one from the government is telling us anything. We are just left here, waiting in the dark,' said Mr Farhan.
A senior official told The Telegraph that the BLA terrorists have killed many passengers and also abducted several of them, without disclosing the exact numbers.
The BLA claimed to have killed 30 security personnel and taken 214 passengers hostage.
'Under the rules of war, these 214 hostages are considered prisoners of war and BLA is prepared for a prisoner exchange. The occupying state of Pakistan is given 48 hours to immediately and unconditionally release Baloch political prisoners, forcibly disappeared persons and national resistance activists,' the BLA said.
The 214 Pakistani personnel including military, paramilitary, police and intelligence officers are being held under full security and in accordance with the rules of war, the BLA said.
'If our demands are not met within the stipulated period or if the occupying state attempts any military action during this time, all prisoners of war will be neutralised and the train will be completely destroyed. The Pakistani army will bear full responsibility for the consequences,' the BLA added.
The 994-mile train journey from Quetta to Peshawar takes more than 30 hours to complete.
The train service resumed in October after a two-month halt due to a BLA-claimed attack on the track in Balochistan.
The BLA, which seeks independence for Balochistan, a region bordering Afghanistan and Iran, said their militants detonated an explosive on the railway track, forcing the train to stop.
They then opened fire on the locomotive, wounding the driver, before taking control of the train inside a tunnel.
State-owned media outlets Radio Pakistan and PTV News reported that the militants have taken passengers, including women and children, as hostages while remaining in communication with their foreign 'facilitators'.
The attackers were receiving instructions from Ustad Majeed, a BLA commander based in Zaranj, in Afghanistan's Nimroz province, officials told The Telegraph.
They said that the security forces had surrounded the area and launched a clearance operation that would continue until the aggressors were eliminated.
The remote location, with no internet access, has complicated rescue efforts, an official in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government said.
Pakistan military has sent in gunship helicopters and deployed ground troops to rescue the hostages.
Mohsin Naqvi, Pakistan's interior minister, said: 'Those who fire on innocent passengers deserve no mercy.'
Our fighters have carried out a meticulously planned operation in Mashkaf, Dhadar, Bolan. The railway track was blown up, forcing the train to halt, and all passengers were taken hostage,' said Jeeyand Baloch, the militant group's spokesman.
'If the occupying forces attempt an incursion, all hostages will be executed, and the responsibility for the bloodshed will lie solely with them,' the BLA said in a statement sent to journalists and posted on Telegram.
The BLA claimed to have killed six of Pakistan's military personnel, but Pakistan authorities have not confirmed these claims.
It said Pakistan security personnel were among those taken hostage and warned of retaliation if security forces carried out an operation.
Muhammad Kashif, a senior railway official in Quetta, confirmed the hostage crisis.
'The train was stopped by armed men in Tunnel No 8. We are trying to contact the passengers and staff,' Mr Kashif said.
Rana Muhammad Dilawar, a police official, said a relief train and additional security had been sent to the site.
The attack follows a surge in militant violence in Pakistan, with the Islamabad-based Centre for Research and Security Studies reporting more than 1,600 fatalities from militants in 2024 – the deadliest year in a decade.
Last week, 18 people, including children, were killed and dozens more wounded after a group of gunmen and suicide bombers launched a coordinated attack on a Pakistani army base at Bannu in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies reported terror incidents increased by 42 per cent in January compared to the previous month.
Balochistan remains a hotspot, with separatist attacks rising by 119 per cent in 2024, driven by groups such as the BLA and the Balochistan Liberation Front.
A railway official told The Telegraph that 80 passengers including 11 children and 26 women were rescued as the operation continued in Bolan.
Talal Chaudhry, the minister of state for interior, said: 'Many passengers have been taken off the train to the mountainous area and women and children are being used as a shield [by the terrorists].'
The security forces were treading carefully because of the lives involved, saying that the operation was still under way with most of the people to be rescued soon, he said.
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