190 hostages freed, 30 militants killed in Pakistan train hijacking

Pakistan security sources on Wednesday said the military had freed 190 train passengers taken hostage by gunmen on the second day of a siege in the mountainous southwest.

More than 450 passengers were on board when a separatist militant group captured the train in a remote frontier district, with an unknown number of hostages still being held.

“So far, 190 passengers have been rescued, and 30 terrorists have been killed. Due to the presence of women and children with suicide bombers, extreme caution is being exercised,” security sources told AFP. “The operation continues to eliminate the remaining militants.”

Attacks by separatist groups who accuse outsiders of plundering natural resources in Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran, have soared in the past few years.

Passengers rescued by security forces from a passenger train attacked by insurgents comfort each other upon their arrival at a railway station in Quetta. AP

The assault was immediately claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army, who released a video of an explosion on the track followed by dozens of militants emerging from mountainous hiding places and storming onto the carriages.

“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.

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 who were rescued from a train after it was attacked by separatist militants, walk with their belongings at the Railway Station in Quetta on Wednesday. Reuters

Passengers who walked for hours through rugged mountains to reach safety described being set free by the militants.

“Our women pleaded with them, and they spared us,” Babar Masih, a 38-year-old Christian labourer told AFP on Wednesday.

“They told us to get out and not look back. As we ran, I noticed many others running alongside us.”

Relatives of passengers of a train, which is attacked by insurgents, gather to get information about passengers from special counter at a railway station in Quetta. AP

At a railway station in Quetta, paramilitary troops brought empty coffins that will be sent to the site of the incident.

“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 Jaffar Express train, told AFP. 

Outsiders identified

The BLA has staged a series of recent attacks against security forces and ethnic groups from outside the province they accuse of benefiting from the region’s wealth.

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

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

An injured passenger rescued by security forces from a passenger train attacked by insurgents arrive at a railway station in Much near Quetta. AP

Several passengers told AFP that gunmen demanded to see 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 Quetta under “tight security,” said a police official who was not authorised to speak to the media.