Agencies
Islamabad
Pakistani elite commandos, backed by air power, engaged in fierce gun battles on Tuesday with separatist militants, to rescue more than 400 hostage from a hijacked train, officials said.
“An intense gun battle is still raging,” an official said, “we have rescued 80 passengers.” “Soldiers are encircling the train and we will continue fighting till all the hostages are freed.”About 100 gunmen from the separatist Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) blew up the track and fired at a train in the volatile south-western province of Balochistan, overpowering the driver and taking the passengers hostages, local official Shahid Rind said.
Some 440 passengers were onboard the Jaffar Express train that left the Balochistan capital Quetta in the morning and was intercepted by gunmen around midday in the remote Sibi district, railway official Mohamed Sharif said.
Most of travellers were the members of the country’s security forces and their families heading to their home towns ahead of the Muslim festival of Eid al Fitr, intelligence officials said. Pakistani forces deployed helicopters and commandos, surrounding the mountainous terrain where the train was halted before launching an operation.
The number of casualties among soldiers, passengers and militants remained unclear after several hours of clashes.
The BLA, which has previously targeted trains and buses carrying security personnel, claimed responsibility for the attack. The group demanded a prisoner exchange and threatened to kill hostages if the operation continued.
Violence in Balochistan has surged as China and Pakistan advance the second phase of a major infrastructure project linking Chinese cities to the Arabian Sea. The BLA and local political groups accuse both governments of exploiting the region’s resources through coercive policies.
In January, a security report by the Islamabad-based think tank Pak Institute of Peace Studies (PIPS) warned that the situation in Balochistan was “alarming”.
It said there were more than 150 attacks last year, up by a staggering 119 percent compared with the year before.
Last month, at least 18 soldiers were killed in a BLA attack in Balochistan’s Kalat city.
Muhammad Shoaib, a security analyst and an academic, said BLA attacks had surged not just numerically but also in “lethality”. “The organisation has gained strength over the past few years. It has enhanced its capability on many fronts: propaganda, recruitment, target selection, intelligence and adaptability,” Shoaib told Al Jazeera.
