The train with hundreds of passengers was hijacked in inaccessible areas by an armed group on Tuesday.
According to the initial reports, 450 passengers were taken hostage, but after a few hours, reports from the separatist group BLA (Baloch Liberation Army) stated that all "women, children, and Baloch passengers" had been released. About a hundred Pakistani soldiers remained as hostages, according to BLA, reports AFP.
At the same time, the group threatened to kill the remaining hostages: "If the occupation forces attempt a military intervention, the entire hostage group will be executed."
Operation underway
Interior Minister Talal Chaudhry tells the news site Dawn that "some hostages" were freed when security forces arrived at the scene, but he does not specify how many.
Many people have been moved from the train to the mountainous area (nearby) and women and children are being used as human shields, and (BLA's) statement is not true, he says.
On Tuesday evening, it was reported that Pakistani military and security forces had freed many of the hostages. "Security forces have successfully freed 80 hostages – 43 men, 26 women, and 11 children – from the terrorists," a source within the security forces told AFP.
Efforts to free additional hostages, unclear how many, are ongoing, reports several media outlets. According to AFP, at least three people have been killed.
Inaccessible area
The attack occurred at 1 pm local time (9 am Swedish time). There have been reports of "intensive gunfire" at the train, called Jaffar Express, which has nine cars. The location is in an isolated mountainous area southeast of the city of Quetta, where several hospitals have gone on high alert.
The rescue operation has taken time, as the authorities have tried to send security forces and medical personnel to the scene via the railway, reports Dawn.
BLA has long fought for an independent Baluchistan – the poorest province in Pakistan – and hides among other things on the other side of the border with Afghanistan. In recent years, the conflict has escalated, and BLA has carried out many violent acts and attacks.
The province is the poorest in Pakistan, and the Baluchistan Liberation Army often motivates its actions by saying that the outside world profits from the region's resources.
The historical region of Baluchistan stretches into Afghanistan and Iran. In the Pakistani province, around nine million people live, mainly Baloch and Pashtuns, many of whom were separated from clan relatives in Afghanistan by a British border drawing in 1893.
The ongoing wave of violence began after the Taliban regained power in Afghanistan in 2021, and the Pakistani government accuses the Taliban regime of protecting the armed separatists.
