Eyewitnesses give harrowing account of Pakistan train attack

Voice of America

13-03-2025

Passengers of a Pakistani train held hostage in the restive Balochistan province shared with VOA disturbing details of their ordeal on Wednesday as the military completed an hourslong rescue operation and killed 33 terrorists.
Speaking to a private news channel, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, director general of military's media wing, Inter Services Public Relations, said that all hostages were rescued.
Two of the passengers described to VOA harrowing moments with the Baloch Liberation Army.
"They shot and killed people on the train. They said, 'Come out quietly and we will let you go.' We came outside and sat down," said Jamshed Ajmal.
The militants then asked passengers of Punjabi and Saraiki ethnicity to come forward, he said.
"Then they picked out police officers and tied their hands and shot them several times. At night, they picked out 10 more people and shot them," Ajmal said.
"Whoever didn't leave the train, they killed them," he said. "We planned to run away. We escaped and came to our [armed] forces."
Another passenger, Allah Ditta, told VOA that he and several others ran for their lives after militants pulled them off the train.
"When we saw two people quietly escape, then we all braved up and started running. Still 150 to 200 people were left sitting," Ditta said. "Some soldiers also ran and that's when we felt brave, too, and we ran for about 2 kilometers and reached a frontier corps post."
According to earlier reports, close to 200 passengers had been freed before the final push Wednesday evening.
The attack
The Jaffar Express, a cross-country train with roughly 450 people on board, came under a bomb and gun attack on Tuesday while passing through a tunnel near Sibi, Balochistan, on its way north to Peshawar from Quetta.
Separatists belonging to the banned BLA claimed responsibility for the attack. Pakistan and the United States have designated BLA a terrorist group.
The military spokesperson said the army, air force, paramilitary frontier corps, and commandos of the Special Services Group took part in the operation that lasted almost 30 hours.
"Since terrorists were holding passengers as human shields, the operation was conducted with skill and caution," Chaudhry said, adding that snipers killed suicide bombers before forces advanced to clear the train's nine cars.
The spokesperson said no passengers were killed during the operation. However, he said 21 passengers died in the initial attack by the BLA. Four frontier corps personnel were also killed, including one during the clearance operation, Chaudhry said.
A bomb disposal squad searched the area for explosives, while passengers who escaped in several directions were gathered up, he said.
"This incident of Jaffar Express changes the rules of the game," Chaudhry said, warning that terrorists will not be spared.
The BLA had warned a day earlier that it would execute security personnel among the hostages if the state did not release political prisons, missing persons, and what it called resistance workers held in Balochistan prisons within 48 hours.
BLA surges
Since last August, BLA has claimed responsibility for several deadly attacks, primarily targeting security forces and workers from the eastern Punjab province, the seat of power in Pakistan.
The separatist group accuses Pakistan of exploiting the rich natural resources of their impoverished province. The group also opposes Chinese investment in Balochistan, which is home to the China-funded Gwadar port and the country's biggest yet largely unused airport.
Both Pakistan and China reject claims that their joint ventures are depriving ethnic Baloch of economic opportunities and their share in the province's mineral wealth.
According to the Global Terrorism Index 2025, BLA is one of two militant groups driving a surge in violence that has pushed Pakistan to the second spot on the list of countries most affected by terrorism.
According to the report, the separatist militant group launched 504 attacks in 2024, compared with 116 in 2023. Deaths in these attacks surged from 88 in 2023 to 388 in 2024.
Military spokesperson Chaundry claimed Tuesday's attacker were in touch with planners in Afghanistan. Islamabad has blamed several recent attacks on militants present on Afghan soil. Afghan Taliban routinely deny providing sanctuary to anti-Pakistan fighters.
Murtaza Zehri of VOA's Urdu Service contributed to this report.