The security forces have rescued at least 155 passengers and killed 27 terrorists as a rescue operation continues until their second day after the terrorists kidnapped the Jaffer Express train near the Bolan district of Baluchistan, state media said on Wednesday.
An unprecedented hostage situation took place on Tuesday after terrorists attacked the Jaffar Express in a resistant part of Baluchistan, receiving more than 400 passengers as hostages, including a considerable number of security personnel.
The security forces claimed to have rescued around 155 passengers so far, including women and children, of the attackers, according to the State Pakistan radio.
Citing security sources, Pakistan radio They reported that 27 terrorists had been killed by security forces so far, while the operation to eliminate the remaining assailants continued.
The report added that 37 injured had been sent for medical treatment.
“The terrorists responsible for the cowardly attack against Jaffar Express are in contact with their facilitators in Afghanistan.” Pakistan radio More said.
“Terrorists have positioned suicidal terrorists very close to some innocent hostages. Suicide bombers carry explosive vests, ”said the report by citing security sources.
“In advance of the possible defeat, terrorists are using innocent people as human shields,” the report said.
He added that suicidal bombers “have led women and children as hostages in three different places” and that the operation was being carried out with “greater caution” due to the presence of women and children.
Although hindered by the remoteness of the area, the security forces said they had launched a massive operation in the Bolan Pass dhadar area to rescue the hostages.
There was no confirmation of the total number of victims, but the authorities said that at least 10 people, including the driver of the locomotive and eight security personnel, had lost their lives as the forces involved in a shooting.
It was not clear immediately if these people had been released as a result of kinetic military action, or if they were among those allegedly released by armed assailants.
The kidnapping is his kind event, since the terrorists had never tried to attack or take a complete train and their occupants as hostages before.
The forbidden Baloch Liberation Army (Bla) attributed the responsibility of the attack, and claimed to have taken a large number of people like hostages. The group also said they had released several people, including women and children, but these reports could not be verified independently.
An operation to recover the rest of the missing passengers and take the attackers to justice continued in the area around the Mushkaf tunnel.
Due to the sensitive nature of the current action, Dawn.com It will not inform any critical operational detail until the situation has been resolved.
The Pakistan Human Rights Commission (HRCP) expressed “serious concern” in a statement today, and demanded that all hostages be released immediately.
He said the terrorists “kidnapped the train after exploiting the railroad road and several hundred passengers took hostages.”
“We firmly urge all those relevant to forge a consensus in favor of the urgent rights of the rights on the matters faced by citizens in Baluchistan and to find a peaceful political solution,” added the Pash.
He affirmed that the Commission condemned “violence against unarmed civilians and not combatants by the State and non -state actors.”
The incident was widely condemned by leaders, including President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the main ministers, among others.
President Zardari said that the “Baloch nation rejects those who attack and take hostages to innocent passengers”, while Prime Minister Shehbaz said that “terrorists of the beast” did not deserve any concession.
Operation that runs with ‘additional care’
According to Imran Hayat, the Superintendent of Division of Railways (DS) in Quetta, ten people, including the driver of the locomotive and eight security personnel, had lost their lives.
Security officials said the rescue operation was being executed with additional care, due to the presence of hostages in the captivity of terrorists.
Around 104 passengers who were recovered by security forces were transferred to the nearby Paneer train station, including 58 men, 31 women and 15 children. A help train had evacuated them to Mach nearby station, while efforts are being made for the safe recovery of the remaining passengers.
Railway officials said around 750 passengers were reserved to travel in the Jaffar Express, but the train left Quetta with around 450 people on board.
The sources said that more than 200 security personnel also traveled on the same train.
According to the government statement, an emergency has been imposed at the Sibi hospital, while ambulances and security forces were directed to the site of the incident.
“The incident scale and the possibility of terrorist elements are being determined. The Baluchistan government ordered that emergency measures be taken, and all institutions remain active, ”said Baluchistan government spokesman Shahid Rind.
Interior State Minister Talal Chaudhry said Geographical news Last night, many people had been taken from the train and the terrorists used it as human shields.
The State Minister said the security forces were treading carefully due to the lives involved, saying that the operation was still underway.
According to state media, the security forces had killed 13 terrorists on Tuesday night, while the Ministry of Interior confirmed that more than 100 passengers had been rescued.
A subsequent update in the early hours of Wednesday said that 16 attackers had been killed while around 104 passengers had been rescued.
Attack near the tunnel
Railway officials said the train left Quetta towards Peshawar around 9 am, with 450 passengers in nine bogies. Around 1 PM, they received information that the train had been attacked between the Paneer and Peshi railway stations, near the railway tunnel No. 8, located near Mushkaf.
The Mashkaf tunnel is about 157 kilometers from Quetta and approximately 21 km from Sibi.
Although the Quetta-Jacobad N65 road and the railway line run mainly from side to side through the Bolan region, diverge near the city of Mashkaf.
From here, the railway line takes a more direct road, cutting the mountains and running along the Bolan River, joining the main road near Mach.
The Mashkaf tunnel is in a very isolated part of the area, with the closest station located in Pehro Kunri. The next stop on the line towards Quetta is the stop in Paneer, just before the Paneer tunnel.
“The armed men shot the locomotive rockets and opened fire, which made the train stop. The locomotive driver was seriously injured, ”said the authorities, added that a great fire exchange between security personnel and attackers took place.
The reports suggest that the attackers marked a series of security personnel and kidnapped the train. Then they began to verify the identities of the passengers and took some passengers hostage before fleeing.
The sources said that a large group of armed attackers, who transported automatic weapons and rocket launchers, were protected in the mountains. They also damaged the railway line with explosives.
“According to security sources, terrorists were divided into small groups due to the operation of security forces. The injured passengers have been transferred to the nearby hospital, while the additional security squads participate in the operation in the area, ”said the reports transmitted in the state media.
