Pakistan launches 'full-scale' operation to free train hostages

SIBI - Pakistan forces launched a "full-scale" operation on Wednesday to rescue train passengers taken hostage by militants in the mountainous southwest, with security sources saying 155 had been freed in the past 24 hours.

More than 450 passengers were on board when militants captured the train at the entrance of a tunnel in a remote frontier district, with an unknown number of hostages still being held.

"Information suggests that some militants have fled, taking an unknown number of hostages into the local mountainous areas," a security official in the area told AFP.

Militants bombed a section of the railway track and stormed the train on Tuesday afternoon in southwest Balochistan province, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, where attacks by separatists have been on the rise.

According to security sources, the "terrorists have positioned suicide bombers right next to innocent hostage passengers".

Three people have been killed, including the train driver, during the siege in mountainous Sibi district.

A security official told AFP "a full-scale operation" would aim to free the rest of the captives.

"Security forces have safely rescued 155 passengers... 27 terrorists have been eliminated," a security source said. An earlier count included at least "31 women and 15 children".

It was not immediately clear how many people remained onboard.

Muhammad Kashif, a senior railway government official in the provincial capital Quetta, told AFP on Tuesday afternoon that the 450 passengers on board had been taken hostage.

Passengers freed on Tuesday described walking for hours through mountainous terrain to reach safety.

"I can't find the words to describe how we managed to escape. It was terrifying," Muhammad Bilal, who had been travelling with his mother on the Jafar Express train, told AFP.

The assault was immediately claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), a separatist group that has staged a series of daring recent attacks against security forces and ethnic groups from outside the province.

The group has demanded an exchange with security forces for its imprisoned members.

Authorities restrict access to some areas of Balochistan where many energy and infrastructure projects are backed by China, which has invested billions in the region, including in a major port and airport.

PUNJABIS 'TAKEN AWAY'

The driver of the train, a police officer and a soldier were killed in the assault, according to paramedic Nazim Farooq and railway official Muhammad Aslam.

One passenger described gunmen sorting through identity cards to confirm who was from outside the province, similar to a spate of recent attacks carried out by the BLA.

"They came and checked IDs and service cards and shot two soldiers in front of me and took the other four to... I don't know where," said one passenger who asked not to be identified, after walking four hours to the nearest train station.

"Those who were Punjabis were taken away by the terrorists," he said.

Around 80 of the released passengers were taken to the provincial capital Quetta under "tight security", said a police official who was not authorised to speak to the media.

GROWING INSURGENCY 

The BLA claim the region's natural resources are being exploited by outsiders and has increased attacks targeting Pakistanis from other regions.

The group launched coordinated overnight attacks last year that included taking control of a major highway and shooting dead travellers from other ethnic groups, stunning the country.

Punjabi and Sindhi labourers are regularly targeted in attacks, as well as security forces and foreign infrastructure projects.

The BLA claimed an attack in February that killed 17 paramilitary soldiers and a woman suicide bomber killed a soldier this month.

"The valuable natural resources in Balochistan belong to the Baloch nation," a BLA statement said at the time.

"Pakistani military generals and their Punjabi elite are looting these resources for their own luxury."

Baloch residents regularly stage protests against the state, which they accuse of rounding up innocent people in its crackdown on militancy.

Security forces have been battling a decades-long insurgency in impoverished Balochistan but last year saw a surge in violence in the province compared with 2023, according to the independent Centre for Research and Security Studies.

It found 2024 was the deadliest year for Pakistan in a decade, with violence rising along the Afghanistan border from north to south since the Taliban government took back power in Kabul in 2021.

Pakistan blames its neighbours for allowing militant groups safe haven to plan and launch attacks on Pakistan, a charge Kabul denies.