Sawt Falasteen - Pakistan to launch 'full-scale' operation to free train hostages

Separatist militants bombed part of a railway track and stormed the train with more than 450 passengers on board on Tuesday afternoon, in southwest Balochistan province where violence has been rising.

Dozens of hostages have been freed and three people killed, including the train driver, since the attack erupted in Sibi district.

"A full-scale operation is planned for the morning to rescue the train hostages and others," a security official in the area told AFP.

The official said that forces "faced challenges due to the darkness of night".

"We are taking precautions to avoid any actions that could endanger civilian hostages," he added.

Security sources said the "terrorists have positioned suicide bombers right next to innocent hostage passengers".

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi announced late Tuesday that "more than 100 hostages" have been free, while security sources said those included "58 men, 31 women and 15 children".

It was not immediately clear how many people remained on the train.

The assault was immediately claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), a separatist group behind rising violence in the province which borders Afghanistan and Iran.

Muhammad Kashif, a senior railway government official in provincial capital Quetta, told AFP that "over 450 passengers onboard" had been taken hostage.

Hostages freed on Tuesday said they had to walk for hours through mountainous terrain to reach safety.

"I can't find the words to describe how we managed to escape. It was terrifying," Muhammad Bilal who had been travelling with his mother on the Jafar Express train, told AFP.

- Punjabis 'taken away' -

The driver of the train, a police officer and soldier were killed in the assault, according to paramedic Nazim Farooq and railway official Muhammad Aslam, both at Mach railway station.

One passenger described gunmen sorting through identity cards to confirm who was from outside of the province, similar to a spate of recent attacks carried out by the Baloch Liberation Army.

"They came and checked IDs and service cards and shot two soldiers in front of me and took the other four to, I don't know where," said one passenger who asked not to be named, after walking four hours to the nearest train station.

"Those who were Punjabis were taken away by the terrorists," he added.

Around 80 of the released passengers were taken to provincial capital Quetta under "tight security", said a police official who was not authorised to speak to the media.

Security forces have been battling a decades-long insurgency in impoverished Balochistan, but violence has soared in the western border regions with Afghanistan, from north to south, since the Taliban took back power in 2021.

The BLA claim the region's natural resources are being exploited by outsiders and have increased attacks targeting Pakistanis from other regions.

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

P.Tamimi--SF-PST