At least 155 hostages rescued from hijacked Pakistan train
ISLAMABAD — Pakistani forces have rescued 155 passengers from a train that was hijacked by separatist fighters in the southwest of the country, security sources said on Wednesday, while the government said an operation was underway to rescue dozens still held hostage.
Militants blew up a railway track and opened fire on the train on Tuesday as it travelled from Quetta, Balochistan’s capital city, to Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), an ethnic armed group, claimed responsibility for the attack and threatened to start executing hostages unless Baloch political prisoners, activists, and missing persons it said had been abducted by the military were not released within 48 hours.
‘Suicide jackets’
The militants have made bombers wearing “suicide jackets” sit next to some of the hostages, said multiple sources who asked not to be named. They did not specify the number of people being held but the interior ministry said in a statement that an operation was underway to rescue them.
BLA said on Tuesday it was holding 214 people hostage, and a security source told Reuters that there were 425 passengers on the train when it was attacked.
The number of militants involved in the attack was not clear. The security sources said on Wednesday that 27 had been killed so far.
BLA is the largest of several ethnic armed groups battling Pakistan’s government in the mineral rich province of Balochistan, bordering Afghanistan and Iran.
Rescued passengers were being sent to their home towns and injured are being treated at hospitals at Mach district in Balochistan. Others were taken to Quetta about 100 kilometers away.
The train that was traveling from the provincial capital, Quetta, to the northern city of Peshawar when the attack took place.
Balochistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, has long been a hotspot for separatist insurgencies, with militants demanding greater autonomy and a larger share of the region’s natural resources.
Hostages at risk
The BLA said the hostages and some captured members of the security forces were being guarded by suicide bombers are guarding them. BLA has warned that the life of hostages would be at risk if the government does not negotiate.
BLA spokesperson Jeeyand Baloch said in in a statement on Tuesday night that the group was ready to free passengers if the government agrees to release the group’s jailed militants. Since then, no government officials have been available for comment. Such demands have been rejected in the past.
Trains in Balochistan typically have security personnel on board as members of the military frequently use trains to travel from Quetta, the capital of Balochistan to other parts of the country.
Militants have attacked trains in the past but have never managed to hijack one.
