Gunmen KILL 'some' hostages on hijacked train: Freed captive describes 'doomsday scenes' with suicide bombers placed beside women and children, primed to detonate
By TARYN PEDLER
Published: 10:23 EDT, 12 March 2025 | Updated: 11:00 EDT, 12 March 2025
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Armed militants who ambushed a train carrying hundreds of people in Pakistan have now killed some of the hostages, Pakistani authorities have said.
An insurgent attack on the busy train is said to have now ended, with all the attackers killed after a day-long standoff, according to security officials.
However, separatist militants said on Wednesday they had killed 50 of the hostages after they barricaded themselves inside the train with over 400 people in the south-western Balochistan province.
It comes after the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) issued a chilling warning threatening to execute hostages within the hour if Pakistani security forces attempted a full-scale rescue mission.
The Jaffar Express, carrying more than 400 passengers from Quetta to Peshawar, was ambushed on Tuesday by heavily armed militants from the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), who took a number of passengers hostage.
Pakistan's military launched a rescue operation to confront the attackers who used 'women and children as shields,' according to security sources, which are still underway.
Special forces and helicopters were deployed to the remote region to free the remaining hostages, and officials have now said that over 300 had been rescued.
Security forces also claimed that at least 30 militants have been killed - though these figures have yet to be confirmed.
In a chilling statement, Jeeyand Baloch, a spokesperson for the BLA said: 'The BLA issues a final warning: if the aerial bombardment is not halted immediately, all 100+ hostages will be executed within the next hour.
'Majeed Brigade, STOS, Fateh Squad, and ZIRAB Unit fighters are actively engaged in countermeasures, and any further military incursion will have catastrophic consequences.
'Over 100 enemy personnel remain in BLA custody. The occupying forces still have a chance to cease airstrikes and save their men, or else the Pakistani military will bear full responsibility for the execution of all hostages'.
Pakistani security officials secure the Quetta Railway Station after all train services were suspended following an attack by militants on the Peshawar-bound Jaffar Express train, in Quetta, Balochistan province, Pakistan, 12 March 2025
Freed women and children train passengers gather at the Mach railway station after Pakistani security forces freed nearly 80 passengers following a security operation against armed militants who ambushed the train in the remote mountainous area, in Mach, southwestern Balochistan province on March 11, 2025
Footage released by the BLA on Wednesday morning shows the vehicle erupting in a cloud of smoke
The train came to a grinding halt and dozens of fighters were seen taking passengers hostage
A train carrying empty coffins to the siege site, stands at a railway station in Quetta on March 12, 2025
On Wednesday, dozens of empty wooden coffins were seen being loaded at Quetta railway station.
A railway official confirmed they were being transported to collect any potential casualties.
Passengers freed from the hijacked train have since described the terrifying ordeal as 'scenes of doomsday' as suicide bombers held women and children hostage and threatened to blow them up.
Ishaq Noor, one of Tuesday's survivors, recalled the sheer terror as militants stormed the train.
'We held our breath throughout the firing, not knowing what would happen next,' he told the BBC.
The terrified passenger was travelling with his wife and two children when a powerful explosion rocked the train.
He described the situation as 'so intense' and said that during the blast, one of his children fell from their seat. He and his wife became human shields for their children and were prepared to take a bullet to keep them alive.
The train was travelling from Quetta to the northern city of Peshawar when it was attacked on Tuesday.
The train was left trapped inside a tunnel after the assault, during which it came under fire and the driver was wounded, police and railway officials said yesterday.
Militants reportedly blew up the railway track before opening fire on security personnel on board, according to government spokesman Shahid Rind.
Footage released by the BLA on Wednesday morning captured the moment of the attack and seizure, showing the train making its way down the track before erupting in a cloud of black smoke.
BLA fighters are also supposedly seen gathered on a distant hill before the vehicle grinds to a halt.
A paramilitary soldier takes position at a railway station near the attack site of a passenger train by insurgents
Passengers rescued from the Peshawar bound Jaffar express train that was attacked by suspected militants in Sibi, reach the railway station in Quetta, the provincial capital of restive Balochistan province, Pakistan, 12 March 2025
An injured passenger rescued by security forces from a passenger train attacked by insurgents arrives at a railway station in Much near Quetta
Passengers rescued from the Peshawar bound Jaffar express train that was attacked by suspected militants in Sibi, reach the railway station in Quetta
A paramilitary soldier takes position at a railway station near the attack site of a passenger train by insurgents
Another survivor, Muhammad Ashraf, who was travelling to Lahore to visit family, said the fear among passengers was overwhelming.
'There was a lot of fear among the passengers. It was a scene of doomsday,' he said.
Ashraf managed to escape with a group of passengers late on Tuesday.
They walked for nearly four hours to the nearest railway station, with some carrying exhausted and injured fellow travellers on their shoulders.
Mushtaq Muhammad, who was in the train's third carriage, described the attackers as highly organised and speaking to each other in Balochi.
'Their leader repeatedly told them to 'keep an eye' on the security personnel to make sure they didn't lose them,' he said.
Muhammad told the news site that the attackers started releasing some passengers on Tuesday evening, including women, children, the elderly, and some Balochistan residents.
Noor said he was freed after telling the militants he was from Turbat and showing that he had children with him.
But despite the release of some passengers, the total number of remaining hostages remains unclear.
In the wake of Tuesday's attack, Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed to 'continue to fight against the monster of terrorism until it is completely eradicated from the country.'
In a statement, he said the 'terrorists' targeting of innocent passengers during the peaceful and blessed month of Ramadan is a clear reflection that these terrorists have no connection with the religion of Islam, Pakistan and Balochistan.'
A Pakistani military helicopter hovers over a railway station in the Sibi district of southwestern Balochistan province on March 12, 2025
Pakistani security officials stand guard after passengers rescued from the Peshawar bound Jaffar express train that was attacked by suspected militants in Sibi
A soldier works to evacuate freed train passengers at the Mach railway station, which has been turned into a makeshift hospital
Paramilitary soldiers stand guard at a railway station in the Sibi district of southwestern Balochistan province on March 12, 2025
A passenger, who was rescued from a train after it was attacked by separatist militants, receives medical aid at the Mach Railway Station in Mach, Balochistan, Pakistan, March 11, 2025
At least 10 civilians and members of Pakistan's security forces had been killed, according to government and railway officials.
Reports suggest that some militants may have left the train, taking an unknown number of passengers with them into the rugged terrain.
A decades-old insurgency in Balochistan by separatist militant groups has led to frequent attacks against the government, army and Chinese interests in the region, pressing demands for a share in its resources.
The oil- and mineral-rich Balochistan is Pakistan's largest but also least populated province.
It is a hub for the country's ethnic Baloch minority whose members say they face discrimination and exploitation by the central government.
The BLA seeks independence for Balochistan. It is the biggest of several ethnic insurgent groups that have battled the South Asian nation's government for decades, saying it unfairly exploits Balochistan's rich gas and mineral resources.
As the tense standoff continues, Pakistani forces face a race against time to secure the hostages' release and prevent the situation from spiralling into further bloodshed.
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