Pakistan’s security forces will do a full-scale operation on Wednesday to rescue passengers being held hostage by Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) militants who include suicide bombers. On Tuesday, the Jafar Express, with a capacity of 450 passengers, was hijacked in Balochistan when travelling from Quetta to Peshawar. Security personnel have rescued so far 155 passengers out of the hostage situation, and are still trying to save the remaining passengers and crew members.
The militants ambushed the train, opened fire and took it over with a gunfight against security personnel, reported. The attackers took control inside a tunnel where the train was forced to halt. At the moment of the assault, the driver was hit by crossfire. Upon this, the militants go about destroying a section of the railway track on Tunnel Number 8, which led to the train derailing and passengers getting trapped inside.
Muhammad Kashif, Railways Controller, confirmed this across his Twitter account, saying that armed men had stopped the train in Tunnel No. 8, placing the slow moving train under threat in the rugged terrain of Balochistan. It is a good spot for militants to carry out such an attack, as it has 17 tunnels.
Shahid Rind, Balochistan government spokesperson, said the train was heavily hit between Pehro Kunri and Gadalar. And while security forces found it more challenging in the face of attackers who fire heavy gunfire and use explosives to take over the scene.
The Pakistani government has committed to decisively doing something about the militants and is conducting a high-stakes operation to ensure safe disembarkation of the rest of the passengers. As attackers keep hostages captive and tensions build, security forces plot ways of killing attackers with as few civilian casualties as possible. Still, the rescue operation unfolds and the situation remains critical.
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