Armed militants are currently holding hundreds of train passengers captive during a siege attributed to a separatist group known for escalating violence in southwestern Pakistan.
The assailants injured the train driver as they seized control of the vehicle in a remote, mountainous region of Balochistan province, which shares borders with Afghanistan and Iran.
“More than 450 passengers on board are being held hostage by armed men,” stated Muhammad Kashif, a senior railway official in Quetta, the provincial capital, in an interview with AFP.
“Among the passengers are women and children,” he added.
According to a statement, the attackers detonated explosives on the railway track before boarding the train.
“The militants quickly gained control of the train and took all passengers hostage,” the statement, issued to the media, read.
The group “threatened severe repercussions” if there are any attempts made to rescue the hostages.
The incident occurred around 1 PM local time (8 AM Irish time) in the rural Sibi district, close to a city station where the train was scheduled to stop.
“An armed group halted a passenger train known as the Jaffar Express,” remarked a senior government official in Sibi, who requested anonymity due to lack of authorization to speak to the media.
“The passengers are being held captive, and the driver has sustained injuries.”
The train departed Quetta en route to Peshawar in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for a journey exceeding 30 hours at approximately 9 AM. An emergency has been declared at hospitals in Sibi, as confirmed by the government official.
A senior police officer from the area near Sibi, who also chose to remain unnamed due to media restrictions, indicated that “the train is stalled just before a tunnel surrounded by mountains.”
This region’s mountainous terrain provides militants with ample opportunities to establish hideouts and orchestrate attacks.
Security forces are engaged in a long-standing battle against an insurgency in economically deprived Balochistan, where militant factions assert that external entities are exploiting the region, with local populations seeing little benefit from its natural resources.
Violence has escalated in the western border territories adjacent to Afghanistan, stretching from north to south, especially since the Taliban regained control in 2021.
According to the Center for Research and Security Studies, an Islamabad-based analytical organization, more than 1,600 individuals lost their lives in various attacks across Pakistan in 2024, marking the deadliest year in nearly a decade.
In February, BLA militants killed seven Punjabi travelers after forcing them off a bus.
Coordinated attacks last year resulted in at least 39 deaths, primarily targeting ethnic Punjabis.
Additionally, in November, the BLA claimed responsibility for a bombing at the main railway station in Quetta that claimed 26 lives, including those of 14 soldiers.
