Pakistani PM Visits Balochistan Ensure Handling Of BLA Militant Hostage

JAKARTA - Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif visited the province of Blochistan, when dozens of people who were rescued from a militantly hijacked train arrived in Quetta.

Security forces killed 33 militants to end a day-long deadlock.

As reported by Reuters on Thursday, March 13, Sharif's visit was made even as the rebel group, the Bloch Liberation Army (BLA), which claimed responsibility for the attack, denied the military's claim the deadlock had ended.

BLA said the "battle" was still ongoing and there were still hostages.

Militants blew the railroad tracks and fired shots at Jaffar Express as the train headed for Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province from Quetta, the mineral-rich capital of Blochistan, on Tuesday.

Militants have been battling insurgency for decades to win self-separation from the southwest province, which is the site of major Chinese-led projects such as ports and gold and copper mines.

A total of 21 hostages and four security forces were killed in the deadlock, according to the military, but the BLA - the largest ethnic armed group in Blochistan to fight the government - said 50 hostages were executed.

Sharif is on a full-day visit to Quetta, where he will be briefed on the security situation in the region, the government said.

He condemned the attack in a post on X on Wednesday. Such coward actions will not destabilize Pakistan's determination to achieve peace."

Authorities said 25 bodies had been taken to the local train station, then taken to Quetta by ambulance.

BLA said the people "claimed" to have been rescued by Pakistan were actually released by the group itself.

"Now that the country has let its hostages die, the state will also be responsible for their deaths," said a spokesman for the group, Jeeyand Bloch.

BLA threatened to start killing the hostages if authorities missed a 48-hour deadline to release political prisoners Bloch, activists and missing persons who he said were kidnapped by the military.