Hundreds held on hijacked train in Pakistan as Balochistan Liberation Army terrorists battle troops

Quetta, Pakistan — Pakistani security forces were battling hundreds of separatist militants holding roughly 300 hostages Wednesday on a train they hijacked in the country’s remote southwest, officials said. At least 30 of the militants had been killed, security officials said, while about 190 of the roughly 450 passengers initially on the train had been rescued.

Militants wearing vests loaded with explosives surrounded the remaining 250 or so hostages after the attack on the train, which happened as it entered a tunnel Tuesday in Bolan, a district in the restive Balochistan province.

The Baloch Liberation Army, a U.S. and Pakistani-designated terrorist organization that has waged a yearslong insurgency in Pakistan, has claimed responsibility for the attack. Spokesman Jeeyand Baloch said the group was ready to free passengers if authorities agree to release jailed militants. 

Authorities said those rescued as of Wednesday included women and children, while an undisclosed number of security personnel had been killed, according to three security officials who spoke with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, as they were not authorized to speak to media.

According to the officials, the train was partially inside a tunnel when the militants blew up the tracks and immobilized the engine and its nine coaches. The driver was critically wounded by gunfire and guards aboard the train were attacked, although the officials gave no details on the number of guards who were aboard, or their fate.

A security officer in province capital Quetta told CBS News’ Sami Yousafzai the militants had split the hostages into small groups and that they were using them as human shields. The BLA warned that the life of hostages would be at risk if the government did not negotiate a release of prisoners.

Local residents reported seeing dozens of coffins being transported to the area on another train, raising fears of mass casualties.

One passenger, Muhammad Bashir, told local media that militants stormed the train and ordered families to leave. As he was with his family, Bashir said, the assailants told all of them to walk away and not look back.

Passengers who made it out of the train were sent to their hometowns, while the wounded were being treated at hospitals in Balochistan’s Mach district. Others were taken to Quetta, a major city about 60 miles away.

The train was traveling from Quetta to the northern city of Peshawar when the attack took place.

A hotspot for insurgencies

Government spokesman Shahid Rind said helicopters were backing up Pakistani forces in the rugged region and described the attack as “an act of terrorism.” It is the first time that the BLA has hijacked a train.

The government has rejected militant-prisoner swap demands in the past.

Balochistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, has long been a hotspot for separatist insurgencies against the leadership of all three countries, with militants demanding greater autonomy and a larger share of the region’s natural resources.

The main insurgencies, however, have centered on Pakistan and Iran. Each country’s government suspects the others of supporting — or at least tolerating — some of the groups operating on the other side of the respective borders.

In Iran, the militant group Jaish al-Adl has carried out many attacks in recent years. Tehran has sought help from Pakistan in countering the threat from Jaish al-Adl, and Pakistan also wants Tehran to deny sanctuaries to BLA fighters. In January 2024, the two nations engaged in a tit-for-tat airstrike targeting insurgents inside each other’s border areas, killing at least 11 people, but later they quickly deescalated the situation through talks

Trains in Balochistan typically have security personnel on board as members of the military frequently use them to travel from Quetta to other parts of the country. Militants have attacked trains in the past but have never managed to hijack one.

In November, the BLA carried out a suicide bombing at a train station in Quetta that killed 26 people. 

Pakistani authorities and analysts estimate that the BLA has around 3,000 fighters. 

Analysts have said the train attack, putting so many civilians in danger, could backfire for the BLA.

“After failing to damage the Pakistan Army within Balochistan, BLA has shifted its targets from military to unarmed civilians. This may give them instant public and media attention, but it will weaken their support base within the civilian population, which is their ultimate objective,” said Syed Muhammad Ali, an Islamabad-based independent security analyst.

Oil- and mineral-rich Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest but least populated province. It’s a hub for the country’s ethnic Baloch minority, whose members say they face discrimination and exploitation by the central government.

The BLA regularly targets Pakistani security forces, but has also in the past attacked civilians, including Chinese nationals working on multibillion-dollar projects related to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, or CPEC.

Pakistan hosts thousands of Chinese workers as part of Beijing’s multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative, which is building major infrastructure projects including ports and airports in Balochistan.