According to the Pakistani military, 300 hostages have been released from a train.
12 March 2025, 15:59 GMT
The Pakistani army claims to have released more than 300 hostages from a passenger train that was taken over by militants on Tuesday in the province of Balochistan. The military spokesperson said 33 militants were killed during the operation.
Twenty-one civilian hostages and four military personnel were killed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) before the operation began, the military spokesperson said. The have not verified these numbers.
To rule out any remaining threats, the military continues its search operation in the region.
According to the army's spokesperson, the train had approximately 440 passengers when it was attacked. Security officials have been quoted as saying some of the militants may have left the train, taking an unknown number of passengers with them into the surrounding mountainous area.
According to the spokesperson, the military is working to locate the passengers who escaped the attack and fled into the surrounding area. How many passengers remain unaccounted for is unknown. The BLA has been classified as a terrorist organization by the authorities in Pakistan and a number of Western nations, including the United Kingdom and the United States. One of the rebel groups that wants Balochistan, Pakistan's largest province, to have more autonomy or independence is the BLA. They say that Islamabad both neglects and exploits the province's abundant mineral resources. They have previously attacked military camps, railroad stations, and trains, but this is their first train hijacking. According to officials, there were at least 100 members of the security forces on the train. According to local reports, the militants had threatened to kill hostages if authorities did not release Baloch political prisoners within 48 hours. The militants opened fire on the train near a mountain tunnel after blowing up a portion of the tracks.
Eyewitnesses described the "doomsday scenes" on board the train as the attack unfolded, with passenger Ishaq Noor telling the BBC: "We held our breath throughout the firing, not knowing what would happen next."
Officials had difficulty communicating with passengers at the time of the attack, because the remote area has no internet or mobile coverage.
Some of the passengers who were able to get off the train late on Tuesday night had to walk for nearly four hours to get to the next train station. Muhammad Ashraf, who was on his way to Lahore to see his family, was one of them. According to what he told the BBC, "We reached the station with great difficulty, because we were tired and there were children and women with us." The hostages were rescued by hundreds of soldiers and helicopters. By Wednesday morning, more than 100 passengers had been released. Over 30 hours passed during the hijacking. The attack-related and subsequent rescue operation-related information has been tightly controlled throughout. The military promised to bring those responsible for the attack to justice, according to a spokesperson.
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