Quetta: At least 16 terrorists were killed and 104 passengers rescued by the security forces after Baloch militants hijacked a passenger train in a tunnel in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province on Tuesday, security officials said.
The Jaffar Express, carrying around 400 passengers in nine bogies, was travelling from Quetta to Peshawar when armed men intercepted it in a tunnel near the mountainous terrain of Gudalar and Piru Kunri on Tuesday afternoon.
The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) later claimed claimed responsibility for the attack.
Security sources confirmed that in an ongoing gun battle with the militants they managed to rescue 104 passengers, including women and children.
“In the gun battle, which is still going on, 16 militants have been killed and many others injured,” one source said and added the clean up operation will continue until all passengers are rescued from the train.
The other militants are said to have taken some of the passengers into the mountains with the security forces pursuing them in the dark.
The source said that the passengers rescued, including 58 men, 31 women and 15 children, have been sent to Mach (a town in Kachhi district in Balochistan province of Pakistan) by another train.
“The militants have now formed small groups to try to escape in the dark, but the security forces have surrounded the tunnel and the remaining passengers will also be rescued soon,” the source said.
The security forces had earlier managed to rescue 80 passengers, including 43 men, 26 women and 11 children, said Balochistan government spokesperson Shahid Rind.
Though the authorities have not given any more details, Rind said the security forces, including military troops, had reached the rough terrain where the tunnel is located shortly after railway authorities were alerted to the train being stopped in the tunnel.
The Pakistan media reported intense firing and explosion near the tunnel, where the militants hijacked the train.
Rind said that they had dispatched rescue teams amid reports of “intense” firing at a Peshawar-bound passenger train.
Pakistan Railways have set up an emergency desk at the Peshawar and Quetta Railway stations as frantic relatives and friends try to get some information about their loved ones on the train.
Pakistan Railways had resumed train services to Peshawar from Quetta after a suspension of more than a month-and-a-half.
Rana Muhammad Dilawar, district police officer in the area where the train was stopped, said the security forces had surrounded the area, but there were reports that the militants had taken some women and children as hostages.
There were around four to five government officials on the train, he added.
Tariq Mahmood, a senior official of Peshawar Railway Station, said that people should not pay heed to rumors on social media and otherwise.
Earlier in November last year, a suicide bomber killed 26 people and injured 62 others at the Quetta railway station after which several services were suspended by the Railways.
