Train attack in Pakistan: 190 passengers rescued, 30 militant piles
In Pakistan’s disturbed Balochistan province, security forces killed 30 militants, saving 190 passengers of the trained train. Security officials gave this information on Wednesday.
Baloch militants attacked a tunnel on Tuesday and captured the train.
Officials said the encounter between security forces and militants continued for the second consecutive day on Wednesday.
Officials said the Jafar Express train was going from Quetta to Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with about 400 passengers in nine coaches, when the militants used explosives to baptist and capture the train.
The ‘Balochistan Liberation Army’ (BLA) took responsibility for the attack on Tuesday.
Six soldiers were killed by militants, although Pakistani officials have not confirmed those who have been killed so far.
Security forces, including the Army and ‘Frontier Core’, are fighting militants who control the train near the mountainous areas of Gudra and Piru Kunri in a tunnel 160 km from Quetta.
Balochistan government spokesperson Shahid Rind said that the campaign will continue till all the passengers are saved.
Rind said that the security forces are taking additional precautions due to the hostage situation.
Officials said some militants wearing suicide jackets gathered women and children and forced them to sit near them.
He said that the campaign is being carried out very carefully due to the presence of women and children with suicidal attackers.
Security sources said that 30 militants have been killed in the rescue operation so far while 190 passengers have been rescued.
According to sources, about 30 injured have been sent to the hospital.
Sources said two drivers and eight security personnel aboard the main engine of the train were killed during the operation.
This is the first time BLA or any militant group in Balochistan province has resorted to ‘hijack’ passenger train, although last year they increased attacks on security forces, establishments and foreigners in various parts of the province.
Security sources said that it is not yet clear how many militants are involved in the attack but some of them are using satellite phones to stay in contact with their masters.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Railways has set up an emergency desk at Peshawar and Quetta railway stations as anxious relatives are arriving to get information about their loved ones.
Pakistan Railways resumed train services from Quetta to Peshawar after suspension of more than one and a half months.
Pakistani media has earlier reported a horrific firing and explosion near the tunnel, where militants attacked the train.
The rebels claimed that they had freed women and children, but the authorities denied the claim and Minister of State for Home Talal Chaudhary said the hostages were rescued by the security forces.
The district police officer Rana Muhammad Dilawar said that the security forces have surrounded the area but there are reports that the militants have taken some women and children hostage.
He said that about four to five government officials were aboard the train.
Senior officer of Peshawar railway station Tariq Mahmood said that people should not pay attention to the rumors being spread through social media and other means.
The BLA claimed that he derailed the train and captured it. The group said it had killed six security personnel.
The BLA warned in a statement that if the Pakistan Army runs a campaign, “all the hostages will be killed.”
The group is banned in Pakistan, Britain and America.
In the last one year, there has been an increase in militant attacks in Balochistan.
In November last year, a suicide bomber blew himself up by a suicide bomb at Quetta railway station in which 26 people were killed and 62 others were injured. After this, the Railways postponed several services.
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