Pakistan's Military Raids Hijacked Jaffar Express: 33 Hijackers Died

Jaffar Express train in Pakistan. (Wikimedia Commons/Mazahirshah)

JAKARTA - Pakistan's security forces stormed a train hijacked by separatist militants on Wednesday, killing all 33 attackers and ending a day-long stalemate involving hundreds of hostages, the military said.

Bloch separatist militants on Tuesday blew up railroad tracks and threw rockets at Jaffar Express, as the train was en route to Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of the capital Blochistan, Quetta, carrying 440 people.

The military said 21 hostages and four security forces were killed during the deadlock.

"Today we released a large number of people, including women and children. The last operation was carried out with great care," military spokesman Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said, adding that no civilians had died in the final stages of the operation.

Prior to the military announcement, the Bloch Liberation Army (BLA), which claimed the attack, said it had killed 50 passengers on Wednesday night. The day before, they said they had taken 214 people hostage, most of whom were security personnel.

They threatened to start executing hostages unless authorities met a 48-hour deadline for the release of Bloch political prisoners, activists and missing persons they said had been kidnapped by the military.

The BLA is the largest ethnic armed group of several groups fighting the government in Blochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran.

Para militan dalam beberapa bulan terakhir telah meningkatkan kegiatan mereka menggunakan taktik baru untuk menimbulkan banyak korban tewas dan cedera serta menargetkan militer Pakistan.

The Bloch militant group said it had struggled to get a bigger share of the regional wealth in the form of mines and minerals rejected by the central government.

Separately, Young Interior Minister Talal Chaudhry told Geovised on Wednesday that militants were wearing suicide vests as they sat among the passengers being held hostage, making it difficult for rescue efforts. He said 70-80 attackers had hijacked the train.

The military sent hundreds of troops and also deployed air forces and special forces to deal with the militants, Chaudhry said.

In the final stages of the operation, he said special forces first paralyzed the suicide bombers before troops moved from one carriage to another to kill other militants.

He did not mention the number of people rescued in this stage of operation and it was not clear how or where the passengers would be evacuated.

The train driver and several others have been killed, officials said before the military statement.

Government officials have said earlier, also before the military statement, about 190 people on board the train had been rescued, with more than 50 people taken to Quetta to reunite with their loved ones.