Security forces free 80 hostages after militants hijack passenger train in Pakistan’s Balochistan — official

QUETTA: Pakistani security forces have freed 80 hostages from militants who hijacked a train carrying more than 400 passengers in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, a security official said on Tuesday, in the latest incident of violence in the region.
Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province by landmass and rich in mineral resources, has been the site of an insurgency for the last two decades. The separatists accuse Islamabad of exploiting the province’s natural resources, such as gold and copper. Successive Pakistani governments have denied the allegations.
The latest attack on the Jaffar Express train occurred in Mushkaaf, an area in the mountainous Bolan range of Balochistan. The train was en route to the northwestern city of Peshawar from Balochistan’s capital of Quetta and carried 425 passengers, according to Muhammad Kashif, a spokesman for Pakistan Railways Quetta Division.
The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) militant group, the most prominent of separatists groups operating in Balochistan that border Iran and Afghanistan, claimed responsibility for the attack and said in a statement it had held 182 passengers hostage.
“Security forces have freed 80 hostages from terrorists. Those released include 43 men, 26 women and 11 children,” a security official said on the condition of anonymity. “Security forces are working to safely release the remaining passengers.”
Security forces have cordoned off the remote, mountainous area and launched a clearance operation, according to the official. The complex operation is being carried out with utmost caution due to the difficult terrain.
“Security forces will continue the operation until the last terrorist is eliminated,” the official said.

Imran Hayat, the divisional superintendent of Pakistan Railways in Quetta, told Arab News they were unable to communicate with their staff as the militants had carried out the attack in a “no-signal zone.”
“We haven’t retrieved a single body or injured from the area yet due to the communication blackout,” he said.
The BLA said it had blown up the railway track, forcing the Jaffar Express train to screech to a halt.
“The fighters swiftly took control of the train, holding all passengers hostage,” the group said, adding that six military troops had been killed.
The claims have not yet been confirmed by government officials or the army, which plays an outsized role in the running of the remote province.
Baloch separatists accuse the Pakistani government of stripping the province’s natural resources and say security forces routinely abduct, torture and execute ethnic Baloch, accusations echoed by human rights campaigners. Government officials and security forces strongly deny violating human rights and say they are uplifting the province through development projects.
The separatists have also recently attacked projects being developed as part of the $65-billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), part of President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative, in Balochistan. The program is also developing a deep-water port close to the new $200-million airport in Gwadar, a joint venture between Pakistan, Oman and China.