Hijacked Train in Balochistan Secured as Pakistan Forces Step In

.In a swift and decisive operation, all 33 separatist militants were eliminated, and hundreds of passengers were safely rescued.

The intense, day-long standoff filled with explosions and hostage threats unfolded after Baloch militants seized the train in Balochistan, demanding the release of prisoners.As special forces closed in, militants strapped with suicide vests positioned themselves among the frightened passengers. In a final, coordinated assault, commandos neutralised the attackers. However, the operation came at a cost, claiming the lives of 21 passengers and four security personnel.

“Today, we rescued many people, including women and children. The final operation was executed with utmost caution,” Pakistan military spokesperson Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry told reporters. He added that no civilians were killed in the final stage of the operation.

The Baloch Liberation Army, which claimed responsibility for the attack, blew up the railway track and fired rockets at the Jaffar Express on Tuesday. The train, with 440 passengers on board, was en route from Quetta in Balochistan to Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa when it came under attack. Before the army confirmed the operation’s outcome, the Baloch Liberation Army claimed on Wednesday evening that they had killed 50 passengers. A day earlier, on Tuesday, the group stated they were holding 214 people hostage, primarily security personnel.

The group had threatened to start executing hostages if authorities did not comply with its 48-hour ultimatum to release Baloch political prisoners, activists, and individuals it alleged were forcibly taken by the military. The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) is the most prominent among several ethnic armed groups engaged in conflict with the government in Balochistan, a province bordering Afghanistan and Iran.  

In recent months, the militants have escalated their attacks, employing new strategies to inflict greater casualties and directly target Pakistan’s military. Baloch militant groups assert that their struggle is aimed at securing a larger share of the region’s mineral resources, which they accuse the central government of monopolizing.

Junior Interior Minister Talal Chaudhry stated that the rescue operation was complicated by militants who sat among the hostages, wearing suicide vests. He estimated that around 70 to 80 attackers had taken control of the train. According to Chaudhry, the military mobilized hundreds of troops, supported by the air force and special forces, to carry out the mission.  

During the final phase of the operation, special forces first targeted and eliminated the suicide bombers before systematically advancing through each carriage to neutralise the remaining militants.