Islamabad: As Pakistani Army confirmed the end of rescue operation on Wednesday, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said cowardly acts like the attack on Jaffar Express train will not shake the country’s resolve for peace. The Pakistani Army claimed that 33 militants and 21 hostages were killed at the end of the rescue operations and over 300 passengers were rescued, reports stated.
Separatist militants of Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) had launched an attack on the Jaffar Express that was carrying around 500 people in southwestern Pakistan’s Balochistan province on Tuesday.
The BLA had claimed to have killed 50 security personnel on board, including active-duty personnel. However, their claims could not been independently verified by OdishaBytes.
Pakistan information minister Attaullah Tarar said the separatist Baloch Liberation Army or BLA group was behind the attack, and the military operation “has successfully reached its logical conclusion”, the Hindustan Times reported.
The province’s chief minister, Sarfraz Bugti, told a provincial assembly that troops killed all insurgents involved.
Horrific accounts from the passengers
Passengers who escaped or were released by the militants described the horrific incident in interviews to various media organizations. The gunmen had seized control of the train, sorting through identity cards, shooting soldiers but freeing some families, AFP reported.
“They asked us to come out of the train one by one. They separated women and asked them to leave. They also spared elders,” said Muhammad Naveed, who managed to escape, told AFP.
Babar Masih, a 38-year-old Christian labourer, told AFP that he and his family walked for hours through rugged mountains to reach a train that could take them to a makeshift hospital. “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.”
Noman Ahmed, a steelworker originally from Gujranwala district in Punjab Province, was also aboard the train, the New York Times reported. “When we heard the blast, we dropped to the floor and locked the carriage door, hoping to escape the gunfire,” Ahmed told NYT..
Moments later, a militant came and separated women and the elderly. Rest of the passengers were forced to move toward a nearby hillside. Some injured passengers remained inside the train, he added.
What did the hijackers want?
Oil- and mineral-rich Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest and least populated province. It is home to the ethnic Baloch minority, who blame the central government of exploiting them. Balochistan borders Iran and Afghanistan. It has long been the scene of insurgency. The BLA had warned that hostages’ lives would be at risk if the government did not negotiate on their demands.
