PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Pakistani forces freed the remaining passengers from a train that was hijacked by separatist militants in explosive-filled vests who took hundreds of hostages and killed 21 of them, security officials said Wednesday.
In addition to the slain hostages, four soldiers also died, Pakistan’s military said in a statement, adding that security forces would assist victims’ families and rescued hostages.
The militants, members of the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), had earlier claimed to have killed more than 100 people and threatened to execute more.
The Pakistani military said in the statement that “after a prolonged, intense and daring operation, the security forces successfully eliminated all 33 terrorists including suicide bombers, while rescuing the hostages in a phased manner.”
The Pakistani army said it rescued 178 hostages Wednesday, in addition to the 168 it recovered Tuesday.
More than 400 people, including 214 soldiers and other security personnel, were on the Jaffar Express on Tuesday as it traveled from Quetta, the capital of Pakistan’s restive southwestern Balochistan province, to the northern city of Peshawar, officials said.
As the train entered a tunnel in a remote, mountainous district of Balochistan, the track was blown up by militants who then opened fire on the train, killing 11 people in Pakistan’s first such hijacking, security officials said.
Armed with rockets, grenades and guns, the assailants began taking passengers hostage, according to security officials, who added that the militants separated law enforcement personnel from the others before they took them into the mountains in small groups.
The rescue operation was conducted extremely cautiously, the officials said, as the hostages were surrounded by militants wearing explosive-laden vests.
“They are using these hostages as human shields,” a senior security official, who declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the news media, told NBC News.
The Baloch Liberation Army, an armed ethnic group that has waged a yearslong insurgency against the Pakistani government, claimed responsibility for the attack. The group said it was seeking the release of Baloch political prisoners, activists and others within 48 hours, threatening to execute hostages if the government did not comply.
The BLA had earlier said that none of its fighters had been killed and claimed the hostages had not been freed but that it had “released all the women, children, sick and Baloch civilians.”
The 11 people killed in the initial attack included the train driver and eight paramilitary troopers, security officials said. Thirty-seven others were injured, including two Pakistan army officers who were airlifted to a military hospital, they said.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned what he called the “cowardly attack.”
“Targeting innocent passengers during the peaceful and blessed month of Ramadan clearly reflects that these terrorists have no connection with Islam, Pakistan or Balochistan,” he said. “The fight against terrorism will continue until this menace is completely eradicated from the country.”
The nine-coach train remained stuck in the tunnel, with the area cordoned off by security forces.
“We have beefed up security in Bolan in view of the situation,” said Rana Muhammad Dilawar, head of the District Police Office.
Security officials said 80 hostages who were released Tuesday night — 43 men, 26 women and 11 children — had reached safety at a railway station in the Mach district of Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest, least populated and least developed province.
They said the hostages had to walk for several hours during the night before they boarded a cargo train because militants had damaged the railway track.
The BLA seeks independence for Balochistan, a resource-rich province that borders Afghanistan and Iran, and its ethnic Baloch minority.
“The main reasons why the conflict continues after decades is because the establishment is antidemocratic, U.S.-supported activities in neighboring Afghanistan have fueled instability, and terrorism in Pakistan is rampant,” said Rizwan Ullah Kobab, chair of the history department at Government College University in Faisalabad, Pakistan.
Militant violence has surged in Balochistan since U.S.-led forces withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021, allowing the Taliban to return to power. Pakistan and Afghanistan have accused each other of supporting antigovernment insurgencies in each other’s countries.
Pakistan’s military said intelligence reports “unequivocally” confirmed the attack “was orchestrated and directed by terrorist ring leaders operating from Afghanistan, who were in direct communication with the terrorists throughout the incident.”
The BLA carries out frequent attacks against Pakistani security forces but has also attacked civilians, including Chinese nationals working on infrastructure projects.
A Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson said Wednesday that Beijing strongly condemned the train attack and “will continue to support Pakistan in its counterterrorism efforts.”
The Pakistani military said it expects Afghanistan’s interim government to “deny use of its soil for terrorist activities against Pakistan” and added that anyone who aided the attack would be brought to justice.
Mushtaq Yusufzai reported from Peshawar and Jennifer Jett and Mithil Aggarwal from Hong Kong.
