The military spokesman says that the rescue operation was concluded and that all 33 attackers were killed.
The Pakistani army says at least 346 hostages were liberated by passenger train who abducted separatist fighters in the Balochistan Province in the southwestern of the country.
A military spokesman said the rescue operation was concluded on Wednesday and that all 33 attackers were killed.
At least 27 hostages and one paramilitary soldier were killed during the conflict, Al Jazeera safety sources said.
Fighters belonging to the liberation army of Balokistan (bla), separatist group Seeking the Balochistan secession from Pakistan, assumed responsibility for the attack on the Jaffar Express train on Tuesday. Jeeyand Baloch spokesman said the group was ready to free the passengers if the authorities agreed to let go into closed fighters.
The train traveled from Quette, a provincial capital of Balochistan, to Peshawar, the capital of the northwestern Province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, when He was attacked. He wore more than 400 passengers when he was targeted as he walked through the tunnels near Siba City, about 160 km (100 miles) from Quette.
Balochistan has been struggling with a lack of security for decades. There are several armed groups in the region, including Bla. Since 2006, the group has banned Pakistan and the United States, which denotes it as a “terrorist” organization.
“The army was very active [here]He only killed 225 people last year … so there will be questionable tags whether there was an appropriate safety on board that was training, given the safety risk, “said Kamal Hyder Al Jazeera, reporting from Quette.
“People would like to have more security in these trains because they feel insecure and have expressed concern,” Hyder said.
Balochistan is the largest province of Pakistan, a home of about 15 million people, but despite huge resources, it remains wide underdeveloped. Balocha people make up 3.6 percent of Pakistan’s population, 2 percent Iran and 2 percent of Afghanistan.
Baloch separatists have been repeatedly attacked by Jaffar Express in recent years. It is usually used by the security staff traveling from Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The last big attack on the train occurred in November when the suicide bomber detonated at Quetta train station while preparing to leave.
Bla took responsibility for the attack, in which at least 30 people were killed.
In August 2024, the attackers blew up part of the path in Balochistan, resulting in the suspension of Jaffar Express two months before the services were created in October. In January last year, the separatists exploded another bomb on the train route near the Bolan area, injuring at least 13 people.
