Hostage rescue in Pakistan train hijacking complicated by suicide bombers, sources say

QUETA: Suicide bombers were seated next to some of the scores of passengers taken hostage after militants hijacked a train in southwest Pakistan, complicating rescue efforts, security sources said on Wednesday (Mar 12).

About 50 separatist insurgents blew up a railway track and lobbed rockets at the Jaffar Express on Tuesday, which had over 400 people on board, a security official said.

In a video shared by the militants, the train is seen travelling through a barren pass when an explosion strikes the track as the locomotive approaches, sending up a plume of black smoke. A group of militants are seen watching from a hill above the tracks.

The video, shared by the group's spokesperson on Telegram, then cuts to people being pulled off the train as it stands still outside a tunnel. Reuters could not independently verify the authenticity of the video.

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. The government said it has so far rescued 155 passengers.

There was no official word on how many people remained in the captivity of the militants. The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), an ethnic armed group that claimed responsibility for the attack, said on Tuesday it was holding 214 people hostage.

"People were attacked ... passengers were injured and some passengers died," said Muhammad Ashraf, who was on the train.

The train was trapped in a tunnel and the driver was killed after sustaining serious injuries, police and railway officials said.

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.

A security source told Reuters that there were 425 passengers on the train when it was attacked on its way from Quetta, Balochistan's capital city, to Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

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.

BLA militants with bombs strapped to their bodies were sitting next to other passengers, the source said.

BLA is the largest of several ethnic armed groups battling Pakistan's government in the mineral-rich province of Balochistan, bordering Afghanistan and Iran.

The security source said on Wednesday that 27 BLA fighters had been killed so far in the military operation. On Tuesday, the BLA denied any of its members were killed.

"BRING MY CHILD BACK"

Over 50 of those rescued so far were brought to Quetta by Wednesday morning, escorted by security forces, where their relatives were waiting for them.

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.