Sawt Falasteen - All hostages freed after 30-hour Pakistan train siege: source

Pakistan security forces launched a rescue mission Tuesday afternoon after a separatist group bombed a railway track in mountainous southwest Balochistan and stormed a train with around 450 passengers on board.

"346 hostages were freed and over 30 terrorists were killed during the operation," an army official told AFP on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

The 27 slain soldiers had been travelling on the train as passengers, the army official said. One on-duty soldier was killed in the clearance operation.

The official did not give a civilian death toll, but earlier a railway official and paramedic said the train driver and a police officer had been killed.

The assault was immediately claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), which released a video of an explosion on the track followed by dozens of militants emerging from hiding places in the mountains.

Attacks by separatist groups who accuse outsiders of plundering natural resources in Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran, have soared in the past few years, mostly targeting security forces and ethnic groups from outside the province.

In a statement released after claiming the assault, the BLA demanded an exchange with security forces for its imprisoned members.

Passengers who escaped or were released by the militants described panic as gunmen seized control of the train, sorting through identity cards, shooting soldiers but freeing some families.

"They asked us to come out of the train one by one. They separated women and asked them to leave. They also spared elders," said Muhammad Naveed, who managed to escape.

"They asked us to come outside, saying we will not be harmed. When around 185 people came outside, they chose people and shot them down."

Babar Masih, a 38-year-old Christian labourer, told AFP on Wednesday he and his family walked for hours through rugged mountains to reach a train that could take them to a makeshift hospital on a railway platform.

"Our women pleaded with them, and they spared us," he said.

"They told us to get out and not look back. As we ran, I noticed many others running alongside us."

- Dozens of empty coffins -

Muhammad Kashif, a senior railway government official in Quetta, said Tuesday that the 450 passengers on board had been taken hostage.

An AFP photographer in Quetta, the provincial capital, witnessed about 150 empty coffins being transported by train to the incident site on Wednesday.

"A large number of (paramilitary) personnel and their families were on board the Jaffar Express, travelling home for their vacations," said a senior security official stationed in Quetta on Wednesday.

He added that the coffins are "reserved for military personnel" and some civilians.

"Sending 150 coffins does not necessarily mean that 150 people were killed," he said.

Several passengers told AFP that gunmen demanded to see identity cards to confirm who was from outside the province, similar to a spate of recent attacks carried out by the BLA.

"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 identified.

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

- Growing insurgency -

Authorities restrict access to many areas of Balochistan, where China has poured billions into energy and infrastructure projects, including a major port and an airport.

The BLA claims the region's natural resources are being exploited by the state and has increased attacks targeting Pakistanis from other regions, security forces and foreign infrastructure projects.

The group launched coordinated overnight attacks last year that included taking control of a major highway and shooting dead travellers from other ethnic groups, stunning the country.

The BLA claimed an attack in February that killed 17 paramilitary soldiers and a woman suicide bomber killed a soldier this month.

"The valuable natural resources in Balochistan belong to the Baloch nation... Pakistani military generals and their Punjabi elite are looting these resources," a BLA statement said at the time.

Baloch residents regularly protest against the state, which they accuse of rounding up innocent people in its crackdown on militancy.

Security forces have been battling a decades-long insurgency in impoverished Balochistan but last year saw a surge in violence in the province compared with 2023, according to the independent Center for Research and Security Studies.

Islamabad accuses its neighbour of allowing militant groups safe haven to plan and launch attacks on Pakistan, a charge Kabul denies.

O.Salim--SF-PST