Pakistan operation to free hostages after train hijacking ends with dozens killed

An operation to rescue hundreds of people taken hostage when a train was hijacked by a separatist militant group in remote south-west Pakistan has ended with dozens killed in the onslaught, a spokesperson for the army said late on Wednesday.

Pakistan’s security services claimed to have rescued about 190 people who were being held captive after militants from the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) blew up a railway line and launched an attack on the Jaffar Express train.

The hijacking took place as the train, which was carrying about 450 passengers, was travelling through a tunnel in the rugged mountains of Balochistan province on Tuesday afternoon.

Officials said 33 militants and 21 hostages were killed, after military and security personnel launched an air and land offensive to take back control. The efforts had been hindered by the remote, treacherous terrain, which has made communication and mobilisation difficult.

The BLA had threatened to start executing hostages unless authorities met its 48-hour deadline for the release of Baloch political prisoners, activists, and missing people it says were abducted by the military.

On Wednesday night, the group claimed in a statement that it had executed 50 of the hostages over Pakistan’s “failure to engage in a serious prisoner exchange”.

According to local media reports, the BLA had stationed suicide bombers in explosive vests close to some of the hostages, further complicating their rescue. “The terrorists are using innocent people as human shields,” an official told Radio Pakistan.

Yousaf Bashir was among the passengers who were allowed to leave the train. Describing the moment that the train was held up by the militants, he said: “There was a huge blast. Everyone was scared and people were screaming and crying loudly. We laid down during the blasts. Everyone laid down in the train as there was firing too.”

He said militants had come over after the firing stopped and demanded all the passengers get off the train or be killed. “They freed my children, my wife and me too. They warned us not to look back and kept walking. I did not see how many people there were left behind,” said Bashir.

Those the BLA allowed to leave the train described walking overnight to safety through the rugged mountain terrain for more than seven hours.

In a written statement sent to the Guardian, the BLA said the hijacking was “a direct response to Pakistan’s decades-long colonial occupation of Balochistan and the relentless war crimes committed against the Baloch people”.

Balochistan, a vast and underdeveloped region bordering Iran and Afghanistan, has for decades been home to a separatist insurgency fighting against the Pakistani state and military, which it has accused of neglecting and exploiting the region.

“The Bolan operation is a tactical response to these atrocities, intended to demonstrate that the occupying forces are not invincible and that their continued presence in Balochistan will be met with unwavering resistance,” the BLA statement said.

The BLA has recently ramped up its operations in Balochistan and has been behind some of the worst terrorist attacks in Pakistan in the past few years.

Zahid Hussain, a security analyst, said the train hijacking was “unprecedented”. He added: “This attack shows the situation in Balochistan has become very challenging for the military. They have failed to contain the insurgency and militants are recruiting large numbers to carry out such attacks.”

FAMILIES URGE ACTION

The security source told Reuters there were 425 people on the train when it was attacked on its way to Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province from Balochistan’s capital of Quetta.

After seizing control of the train, the insurgents began pulling passengers off and checking their identification, the source said.

“They were looking for soldiers and security personnel,” the official said, estimating that at least 11 people, including paramilitary troops, had been killed.

More than 50 of those rescued arrived in Quetta on Wednesday, to be reunited with distraught relatives.

A woman, who said her son was among the passengers, confronted provincial minister Mir Zahoor Buledi when he visited those freed.

“Please bring my child back,” she said. “Why didn’t you stop the trains if they were not safe?”

Buledi told reporters the government was working to beef up security in the region.

A Reuters journalist saw nearly 100 empty coffins at Quetta railway station, where more of those aboard the Jaffar Express were expected to arrive.

Pakistan Railways has suspended services from the provinces of Punjab and Sindh to Balochistan until security agencies confirm the area is safe, media said on Wednesday.