Pakistan train hijack: Security forces kill 16 militants, rescue 104 hostages in ongoing operation

After a passenger train was hijacked by militants in Pakistan's Balochistan province on Tuesday, the country's security forces have gunned down at least 16 hijackers, while 104 passengers were rescued.

The Jaffar Express, carrying around 400 passengers in nine bogies, was travelling from Quetta to Peshawar when armed men associated with the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) intercepted it in a tunnel near the mountainous terrain of Gudalar and Piru Kunri on Tuesday afternoon.

In an ongoing gun battle with the militants the security forces managed to rescue 104 passengers, including women and children, PTI reported quoting sources.

The report added that the clean-up operation will continue until all passengers are rescued from the train.

Some of the hostage passengers have reportedly been taken into the mountains, with the security forces pursuing them in the dark.

According to the sources quoted in the PTI report, the rescued passengers, including 58 men, 31 women, and 15 children, were sent to Mach (a town in the Kachhi district in the Balochistan province of Pakistan) by another train.

"The militants have now formed small groups to try to escape in the dark, but the security forces have surrounded the tunnel and the remaining passengers will also be rescued soon," the PTI source said.

The security forces had earlier managed to rescue 80 passengers, including 43 men, 26 women, and 11 children, said Balochistan government spokesperson Shahid Rind.

Though the authorities have not given any more details, Rind said the security forces, including military troops, had reached the rough terrain where the tunnel is located shortly after railway authorities were alerted to the train being stopped in the tunnel.

The Pakistan media reported intense firing and explosions near the tunnel, where the militants had hijacked the train.

Rana Muhammad Dilawar, the district police officer in the area where the train was stopped, said there were around four to five government officials on the train. Earlier, the BLA had claimed to have taken scores of security personnel hostage, something that the authorities haven't confirmed.

Pakistan Railways sets up an emergency desk
Pakistan Railways have set up an emergency desk at the Peshawar and Quetta Railway stations to help frantic relatives and friends trying to get some information about their loved ones who were on the train.

Pakistan Railways had resumed train services to Peshawar from Quetta after a suspension of more than a month and a half.

Tariq Mahmood, a senior official of Peshawar Railway Station, said that people should not pay heed to rumors on social media and otherwise.

This isn't the first attack on a train in the region in recent times. Just in November last year, a suicide bomber killed 26 people and injured 62 others at the Quetta railway station, after which several services were suspended by the Railways.