Sawt Falasteen - Militants hold hundreds of train passengers hostage in Pakistan

The militants wounded the driver as they took control of the train in a remote, mountainous area of Balochistan province which borders Afghanistan and Iran.

"Over 450 passengers onboard are being held hostage by gunmen," Muhammad Kashif, a senior railway government official in Quetta, the capital of the province, told AFP.

"Passengers include women and children," he added.

The attack was immediately claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) which is fighting for independence and accuses outsiders of profiting from the region's wealth.

In a statement, it said gunmen bombed the railway track before storming aboard the train.

"The militants swiftly took control of the train and have taken all passengers hostage," said the statement released to media.

The group "warned of severe consequences" if an attempt is made to rescue the hostages.

Pakistani sources who spoke to the media on condition of anonymity said an operation "to eliminate the terrorists is ongoing with extreme caution due to the difficult terrain", adding that women and children are "being used as human shields".

The incident happened around 1:00 pm (0800 GMT) in rural Sibi district, near to a city station where it had been due to stop.

"A passenger train called the Jaffar Express was stopped by armed militants," said a senior government official in Sibi, who asked not to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

"The passengers are being held hostage, and the driver has been injured."

The train had left Quetta for Peshawar, in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa -- a more than 30-hour journey -- at around 9:00 am.

A senior police official from the area bordering Sibi, who asked not to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media, said that "the train remains stuck just before a tunnel surrounded by mountains".

An emergency has been imposed at hospitals in Sibi, according to the government official.

- Decades-long insurgency -

The area is a mountainous region making it easier for militants to have hideouts and plan attacks.

Security forces have been battling a decades-long insurgency in impoverished Balochistan, which militant groups claim is being exploited by outsiders, with wealth from its natural resources syphoned off with little benefit to the local population.

Violence has soared in the western border regions with Afghanistan, from north to south, since the Taliban took back power in 2021.

More than 1,600 people were killed in attacks in Pakistan in 2024 -- the deadliest year in almost a decade -- according to the Center for Research and Security Studies, an Islamabad-based analysis group.

BLA militants killed seven Punjabi travellers in February after they were ordered off a bus.

At least 39 people were killed in coordinated attacks last year that largely targeted ethnic Punjabis.

In November, the BLA claimed responsibility for a bombing at Quetta's main railway station that killed 26 people, including 14 soldiers.

J.AbuShaban--SF-PST