By AFP
March 13, 2025
Authorities began retrieving bodies from a train siege in southwest Pakistan, where separatist gunmen killed at least 21 hostages, officials said - Copyright AFP -
The bodies of at least 25 people, including 21 hostages, killed in a train siege by separatist gunmen in Pakistan were retrieved from the site on Thursday ahead of the first funerals, officials said.
Security forces said they freed more than 340 train passengers in a two-day rescue operation that ended late on Wednesday after a separatist group bombed a remote railway track in mountainous southwest Balochistan and stormed a train with around 450 passengers on board.
The assault was claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), one of a number of separatist groups that accuse outsiders of plundering natural resources in Balochistan near the borders with Afghanistan and Iran.
Death tolls have varied, with the military saying in an official statement that “21 innocent hostages” were killed by the militants as well as four soldiers in the rescue operation.
A railway official in Balochistan said the bodies of 25 people were transported by train away from the hostage site to the nearby town of Mach on Thursday morning.
“Deceased were identified as 19 military passengers, one police and one railway official, while four bodies are yet to be identified,” the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP.
A senior local military official overseeing operations confirmed the details.
An army official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, earlier put the military toll at 28, including 27 off-duty soldiers taken hostage.
Passengers who escaped from the siege said after walking for hours through rugged mountains to reach safety that they saw people being shot dead by militants.
The first funerals are expected to take place on Thursday.
Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif was also expected to visit Balochistan, his office said.
“The Prime Minister expressed grief and sorrow over the martyrdom of security personnel and train passengers during the operation,” it said in a statement.
– ‘Our women pleaded’ –
The BLA released a video of an explosion on the track followed by dozens of militants emerging from hiding places in the mountains to attack the train.
Attacks by separatist groups have soared in the past few years, mostly targeting security forces and ethnic groups from outside the province.
Muhammad Naveed, who managed to escape, told AFP: “They asked us to come out of the train one by one. They separated women and asked them to leave. They also spared elders.”
“They asked us to come outside, saying we will not be harmed. When around 185 people came outside, they chose people and shot them down.”
Babar Masih, a 38-year-old Christian labourer, told AFP on Wednesday he and his family walked for hours through rugged mountains to reach a train that could take them to a makeshift hospital on a railway platform.
“Our women pleaded with them and they spared us,” he said.
“They told us to get out and not look back. As we ran, I noticed many others running alongside us.”
Security forces have been battling a decades-long insurgency in impoverished Balochistan but last year saw a surge in violence in the province compared with 2023, according to the independent Center for Research and Security Studies.
Pakistan to launch ‘full-scale’ operation to free train hostages
By AFP
March 11, 2025
Mach railway station in southwest Pakistan has turned into a makeshift hospital for freed hostages after separatist militants stormed a train - Copyright AFP Banaras KHAN
Maaz Khan
Pakistan security forces were set to launch a “full-scale operation” on Wednesday to free train passengers taken hostage by militants, including suicide bombers, officials said.
Separatist militants bombed part of a railway track and stormed the train with more than 450 passengers on board on Tuesday afternoon, in southwest Balochistan province where violence has been rising.
Dozens of hostages have been freed and three people killed, including the train driver, since the attack erupted in Sibi district.
“A full-scale operation is planned for the morning to rescue the train hostages and others,” a security official in the area told AFP.
The official said that forces “faced challenges due to the darkness of night”.
“We are taking precautions to avoid any actions that could endanger civilian hostages,” he added.
Security sources said the “terrorists have positioned suicide bombers right next to innocent hostage passengers”.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi announced late Tuesday that “more than 100 hostages” have been free, while security sources said those included “58 men, 31 women and 15 children”.
It was not immediately clear how many people remained on the train.
The assault was immediately claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), a separatist group behind rising violence in the province which borders Afghanistan and Iran.
Muhammad Kashif, a senior railway government official in provincial capital Quetta, told AFP that “over 450 passengers onboard” had been taken hostage.
Hostages freed on Tuesday said they had to walk for hours through mountainous terrain to reach safety.
“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 Jafar Express train, told AFP.
– Punjabis ‘taken away’ –
The driver of the train, a police officer and soldier were killed in the assault, according to paramedic Nazim Farooq and railway official Muhammad Aslam, both at Mach railway station.
One passenger described gunmen sorting through identity cards to confirm who was from outside of the province, similar to a spate of recent attacks carried out by the Baloch Liberation Army.
“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 named, after walking four hours to the nearest train station.
“Those who were Punjabis were taken away by the terrorists,” he added.
Around 80 of the released passengers were taken to provincial capital Quetta under “tight security”, said a police official who was not authorised to speak to the media.
Security forces have been battling a decades-long insurgency in impoverished Balochistan, but violence has soared in the western border regions with Afghanistan, from north to south, since the Taliban took back power in 2021.
The BLA claim the region’s natural resources are being exploited by outsiders and have increased attacks targeting Pakistanis from other regions.
In February, BLA militants killed seven Punjabi travellers after they were ordered off a bus.
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