21 hostages killed in Pak train hijack

Twenty-one passengers and four paramilitary soldiers were killed by militants holding hostages after seizing control of a train in Pakistan’s Balochistan province, an army general said on Wednesday.

Army spokesman Lt Gen Ahmad Sharif told a news channel that security forces killed all 33 militants present at the scene.

“The armed forces successfully concluded the operation in the (Wednesday) evening by killing all terrorists and rescuing all passengers safely,” he said.

The Jaffar Express, carrying 440 passengers in nine coaches, was going from Quetta to Peshawar when militants derailed it using explosives and hijacked it near the mountainous terrain of Gudalar and Piru Kunri in a tunnel 160 km from Quetta.

The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the attack on Tuesday when they said they killed six soldiers.

Lt Gen Sharif    said during the operation, the terrorists remained in contact with their facilitators and masterminds in Afghanistan via satellite phones, which showed their foreign nexus.

He said forces took time to complete the operation because the terrorists were using the hostages as human shields. By last evening, around 100 passengers had been safely rescued, he said.

“The rescue operation continued periodically and in the final clearance operation in the evening, all remaining hostages were secured. Since the terrorists were using passengers as human shields, the operation was conducted with extreme precision and caution,” he said.

Army snipers first neutralised suicide bombers, followed by a step-by-step clearance of each train compartment, eliminating all terrorists. No passengers were harmed during the clearance operation.

He said efforts were also underway to gather passengers who had fled in different directions during the operation. The General warned that “the train attack has changed the rule of the game”, without explaining it.

He said the terrorists and their facilitators would be hunted down wherever they were. “We cannot allow anyone to target Pakistanis on the behalf of their foreign paymasters,” he said.

Earlier in the day, officials said some of the militants wearing vests loaded with explosives had formed groups of women and children and forced them to sit near them.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi commended security forces for successfully rescuing all hostages and eliminating all 33 terrorists involved in the attack. “This terrorist attack is a tragic and heartbreaking incident. Every citizen is deeply saddened,” he added.